The senators have voted 145 in favor, 16 against, and 96 abstentions regarding the incorporation of the PP’s amendments to the report; and 108 in favor, seven against, and 141 abstentions in the vote on the rest of the Bill.
The text will now be sent to the Congress of Deputies, which will have to decide on the PP’s amendments. If these do not have enough support in the Lower House, the previous text that came out of it, without the amendments, will be approved. It is worth noting that this is the second attempt to approve the Law that will give rise to the AESAP, after it fell in March with the votes against from the PP, Junts, and Vox.
As for the changes introduced by the PP in the Senate, taking advantage of their absolute majority, they aim to give more power to the autonomous communities within the Agency, reaffirm the independence of the person who will be in charge of directing it, and promote collaboration between pharmaceutical companies and the Administration in planning and responding to health emergencies.
Furthermore, three of their amendments eliminate various provisions that were included during the processing in Congress and were not directly related to the purpose of the AESAP, specifically those related to veterinary medicines and the Law on Unfair Competition.
From the Spanish Socialist Party (PSOE) and Junts, proposals have been made to urge a return to the text of Congress as modified by these amendments, but the senators have rejected it. The same has happened with the amendments presented by Vox, which sought to ensure that the AESAP is born «with technical solidity, democratic legitimacy, and the agility that Spain deserves in the face of the health challenges of the 21st century,» as Senator Fernando Carbonell has argued.
During the plenary session, PP senator Rosa María Romero emphasized that, for her party, the creation of the AESAP is an «obvious necessity» to strengthen the country’s capabilities and improve public health, but she criticized the text of the Bill as a «legislative botch-up,» «lacking technical or legal rigor,» and «incomplete,» justifying the amendments of her group.
She criticized that it «delegates» important aspects, such as competencies or the functioning of the Agency, to a subsequent regulation; «does not clarify» how it will coordinate with other health institutions or with the autonomous communities; «does not guarantee» scientific and technical independence; and, «most importantly,» lacks an economic memorandum.
«We fear that this Agency may end up being another shady business (…) and it is already an open secret heard in all the corridors that they want to appoint Fernando Simón as director,» she concluded.
In contrast, PSOE senator Concepción Andreu defended her group’s rejection of the PP’s amendments due to the lack of «objective reasons to understand the meaning and why of the same.»
Thus, she pointed out the «incongruity» of each of the PP’s amendments, stating that they aim to correct issues that are already covered in the Bill that came out of Congress, such as aspects related to ensuring the independence of the person who will lead the Agency or the greater participation of the autonomous communities.
She also noted that the amendments that remove provisions from the Bill related to the distribution, prescription, dispensation, and use of veterinary medicines «negate agreements» with the veterinary sector and «affect its performance.»
In defense of the Bill, Más Madrid senator Carla Delgado highlighted the «commitment» that the AESAP represents for the Ministry of Health in terms of prevention and health. She recalled the «fragility» of the system, which crises like Ebola or Covid-19 have exposed.
«The Director-General of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom, has already warned us that the world is not at all prepared for the next pandemic (…) and that is why we are picking up the gauntlet (…). There is now an urgency to create a State Public Health Agency designed to build a prevention system capable of anticipating instead of reacting late,» she emphasized.
Therefore, she criticized the PP’s changes in position regarding the Agency and denied that the organization lacks a budget for its financing and technical rigor, as claimed by the ‘popular’. Regarding the budget, she noted that it has been allocated an amount of 27 million euros. Nevertheless, she assured that the AESAP «will move forward.»
On their part, the senators from the Basque Nationalist Party (PNV) and Junts per Catalunya, Nerea Ahedo and Francesc Xavier Ten, respectively, have expressed their doubts about the need for this Law and have suggested that it could represent an invasion of autonomous competencies.
FUENTE