Rarely – or practically never – is there an image in the chamber like the one witnessed this Tuesday: all the groups, except Podemos, voting in favor of a legislative initiative presented by the PP. In an unusual move, the coalition government parties, PSOE and Sumar, along with the rest of the investiture bloc, have supported a popular bill that promotes direct aid for people with celiac disease, who normally buy food appropriate to their illness. The proposal has gone ahead with 338 votes in favor, 3 against and the abstention of the four Podemos deputies. Of course, the two Government partners have expressed all possible criticism of the content of the text and have justified their position to only allow the regulation to be taken into consideration, which can now be modified during its processing.
The norm will pass in this way, with a comfortable majority, the first step of its path in Congress. But Alberto Núñez Feijóo’s party fears that the text will end up in the “freezer” of the president of the lower house, the socialist Francina Armengol. That is, the Table, with a majority of PSOE and Sumar, “Do not put it in the freezer, where it already has 41 initiatives from the Popular Party,” the PP deputy, Maribel Sánchez, objected along these lines during the plenary debate.
The popular parliamentarian has been in charge of defending the bill, which “seeks to offer direct and reimbursable help to those who bear the extra cost of celiac disease”, and to do so it incorporates “a deduction in personal income tax of up to 600 euros for each member of the family unit who is diagnosed with celiac disease.” It also includes the creation of a state patient registry “to guarantee transparency, rigor and fairness in access to this financial compensation.”
but only 40% of the total are diagnosed due to the difficulty of detecting the pathology. According to data from the PP, the law promoted by its group would imply an investment of 60 million euros per year in the future. The plenary session will approve its consideration, so the groups will later be able to propose amendments to modify its content if the proposal advances in its parliamentary processing.
Criticism despite voting in favor
Despite announcing their support, the two Government partners have criticized both the PP and its proposal. “The commitment of the socialist group to people with celiac disease is firm, which is why we want to establish a serious, responsible and coherent position. Coherence that the PP does not show,” PSOE deputy Isabel Iniesta began her intervention, recalling that her party presented on March 22, 2023, in the Cortes of Castilla y León, a non-legal proposal to establish aid for people with celiac disease based on income. During the debate, Iniesta, the regional president, the popular Alfonso Fernández Mañueco, recalled.
For Iniesta, the PP proposal “hides a deeply unfair and regressive approach”, by not taking into account “neither the level of income nor family circumstances.” “Many families do not file their income tax returns because they do not reach the minimum. This is not tax justice, it is tax opportunism,” stressed the deputy, who has defended a model of progressive aid linked to income. “We are going to continue working so that all people with celiac disease have support, information and sufficient resources wherever they live and whatever they earn, that is why we will vote in favor of your proposal, because the POE will never leave aside people with celiac disease and their families,” he concluded.
Sumar has also defended the admission for processing, “to greatly improve” the initiative presented, after the Ministry of Health, in the hands of Más Madrid, declared celiac disease as a chronic disease in July. Alda Recas, from this party, has taken the opportunity to defend the work of Mónica García’s department and has used the proposal to create a specific registry to attack the PP: “My goodness, what a mess they have with the registries and their uses! Celiac disease, in favor. How migrants use health care in the Valencian Community, we voted yes. But not screening, or objectors on the issue of abortion. That doesn’t bother us. like it,” he noted. “Tell the lady [Isabel Díaz] I hope that he returns from that umpteenth trip to the United States, which has a requirement and a month to comply with the law,” Recas warned from the podium.
