The Plenary of Congress has validated this Wednesday the decree-law of aid to victims of dana incidents and other emergency situations.
A regulation promoted by the Government last April that combines fiscal and financial aid for those affected by the dana in Valencia with an unprecedented measure: the tax exemption of compensation that the Catholic Church pays to victims of sexual abuse committed in the ecclesiastical sphere.
The validation has been approved with almost unanimous support. 315 deputies voted in favor, none against, and 32 (Vox) abstained. In addition, all parliamentary groups have supported its processing as a bill, which will allow amendments and modifications to be introduced in the coming weeks.
Emergencies, regional financing, and reparation to victims
The approved text brings together measures of very different natures, although all with a common denominator: to respond to extraordinary situations that have caused personal and material damage in recent years.
The Government justifies the regulation by the need to "minimize from a tax perspective the effects of said events and occurrences", among which it cites the dana that particularly affected the Valencian Community, railway accidents such as those in Adamuz and Gelida, and the consequences derived from the crisis in the Middle East.
Tax advantages for those affected by the dana
One of the pillars of the decree consists of equating the tax treatment of regional and private aid received by those affected by the dana.
Specifically, the approved regulation determines that certain aid granted by the Valencian Community as a result of the dana will not be included in the tax base of personal income tax or corporate tax. At the same time, certain aid for personal damages derived from forest fires and other benefits paid by non-profit entities to people affected by the dana are declared exempt from personal income tax.
The same treatment applies to compensation paid by the Catholic Church for personal damages caused by abuse.
With this measure, the Executive seeks to prevent beneficiaries from having to pay taxes on aid conceived precisely to compensate for losses derived from the catastrophe.
More borrowing room for the Valencian Community and Extremadura
The decree also incorporates measures to flexibilize the budgetary framework of the autonomous communities.
The State may authorize the Valencian Community in 2026 to contract new borrowing operations to cover extraordinary expenses derived from the DANA. Likewise, Extremadura will receive additional resources to face the costs caused by various adverse weather phenomena.
Mechanisms are also introduced to alleviate the financial restrictions of local entities.
Labor recognition for victims of railway accidents
The rule declares temporary incapacity processes and permanent incapacity, death, and survival pensions of people affected by the railway accidents of Adamuz (Córdoba) and Gelida (Barcelona) as a situation assimilated to a work accident.
This is a measure with a direct impact on the benefits that victims and their families can receive.
Church compensation to abuse victims exempt from taxes
The most relevant final provision modifies the Personal Income Tax Law to declare exempt the amounts that the Catholic Church pays to victims of sexual abuse committed within ecclesiastical institutions.
The decision prevents those affected from having to pay taxes on compensation that seeks to repair the damage suffered and constitutes a significant step in the institutional recognition of these victims.
Reform of the professional diesel refund
Among the measures included is also an adjustment to the partial refund system for professional use diesel, initially regulated by the decree approved to mitigate the economic consequences of the war in Iran, whose original wording could cause harm to the groups it intended to favor.
Thus, the validated decree reestablishes since June the right to a refund of 49 euros for every 1,000 liters, provided that the variation in the CPI of fuels in April does not exceed by more than 15% the inflation recorded in the same month of the previous year.
The rule, defended in the Chamber by the Minister of Finance, Arcadi España, also introduces a technical correction on the reduction to 10% of VAT on electricity, gas, and fuels included in the Iran decree, extending this reduced rate until June 30 unless exceptional circumstances occur.
In particular, the scope of application of the measure is expanded and the contracted power to benefit from the reduced rate is allowed to be equal to 10 kilowatts (KW), and not only less than that figure as initially established.
Authorization to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and reinforcement of funds
Likewise, a compensation mechanism is launched through which the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, through its foreign service, will be able to transfer part of its consular fund surpluses in cash to other services of the General State Administration abroad, thus reducing the impact of not being able to receive fund transfers from Spain in time to meet payment obligations.
The decree also authorizes an extraordinary credit of 11.33 million euros to cover actions carried out by Tragsatec under emergency orders formalized in 2025, intended to assist those affected by the dana and to assess and quantify the damages caused.