The PSOE’s top candidate for Congress for Zaragoza, Fernando Beltrán, has denounced that, while the Government of Spain led by Pedro Sánchez “reinforces attention to dependency with a historic investment,” the Aragonese executive led by Jorge Azcón “cuts social spending and harms thousands of people in Aragon who need care.”
He has reproached that Aragon “chains three years of setbacks” in the main indicators of social services, just when the 20th anniversary of the Dependency Law is being marked, “a socialist law that turned care for dependent people into a right.”
Beltrán has inaugurated at the PSOE Aragón headquarters a meeting with entities from the third sector, trade union representatives, and users to mark the two decades of the Dependency Law. Also taking part in the event were the socialist candidate for the Senate, Miguel Dalmau; the PSOE councillor on the Zaragoza City Council, Francisco Galán; and the socialist deputy in the Cortes of Aragón, Mónica Iglesias.
The socialist leader described the anniversary as “bittersweet” because, in his view, while Pedro Sánchez’s executive has driven unprecedented investment in dependency, “in Aragon, Azcón’s Government has cut social spending and is leaving thousands of people who need care without support.”
Beltrán has pointed out that Aragon allocates 77 euros less per inhabitant to social services than the country’s average, and that people receiving home-care assistance only have 11 hours of care, compared with 24 hours on average across Spain.
“Less than half. And for the third year in a row, Aragon is falling back in social services indicators,” the candidate has lamented. In contrast, he highlighted the “investment effort” of the central Government, which, as he indicated, would allow “to reduce by up to 86%” the dependency waiting lists in the Community.
“Once again, it has to be the Government of Spain that comes to the rescue. We are talking about thousands of people for whom waiting is agony, and to whom the PP is leaving without support,” he has stated.
During his intervention, he has claimed the Dependency Law as one of the main milestones of the social progress promoted by the PSOE and has insisted on the importance of strengthening the welfare state. “There is no better way to unite a country than by guaranteeing people’s rights. We’re talking about our mothers, our grandmothers, our families. Those who need care, but also those who provide it,” he emphasized.
To conclude, Beltrán has reiterated that “dependency is not a business. It is a right. And rights are guaranteed, not cut. This is also what the 29N is about,” referring to the date of the general elections.