The former spokesman of Unidas Podemos in Congress, Pablo Echenique, attacked the Congress of Deputies, led by PSOE, for adapting the hemicycle for Princess Leonor’s Constitution swearing-in ceremony, which will take place on October 31, at the same time as his coming of age.
In particular, Echenique criticized that “the Congress-led again by the PSOE dismantled the entire table and tribune for the monarchy”, while “it went an entire legislature without adopting a seat for people who use wheelchairs with the excuses of ‘historical heritage’.
https://twitter.com/PabloEchenique/status/1717480278313083049?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
“That’s how it is without blue blood. Surely if my last name was Borbón—or if I were a member of the PP or PSOE—they would not have called it to put the rights of a wooden bench above the rights of people of ‘historical heritage’,” he wrote on social media. network
https://twitter.com/PabloEchenique/status/1717510030835044439?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
When Echenique was a deputy, he repeatedly requested that the Chamber adapt its area for wheelchairs. In addition, when Julio said goodbye to the Lower House, he criticized it as “shameful” that the Congress has a parliamentary spokesperson who is in a wheelchair and did not send a clear message to society to align the hemicycle with people with disabilities so that he can sit in his seat with the seat of his group.
Although the facilities of the Lower House have been modified in recent years due to the presence of many deputies with physical disabilities who operate in wheelchairs, the hemicycle has not been fully adapted to the needs of these people, partly because of its heritage and artistic value
In 2020, the option of bidding for the jobs that will develop in this scheme has been considered, as has the option of the representative accessing his seat through a mechanical, approved, and secret system, which allows raising a platform to a level, even thought, through the Board, three steps high. However, the pandemic delayed the resolution of the issue. Since then, no progress has been made on this reform.
To facilitate the presence of these deputies in plenary sessions, the solution for many years was to place them in the highest part of the room, known as the ‘chicken coop’, which is the only seat accessible by elevator. When they had to intervene, they were given an auxiliary table and a microphone in the center of the room, near the desk of the stenographers, because the gallery was only accessible by stairs.
However the appointment of Echenique as the parliamentary spokesperson caused a change in plans. This position means that your seat must be in the front row of your parliamentary group and involve more intervention in debates. However, the former leader must follow the sessions in the center of the plenary hall, in front of the seats occupied by the government. and no one’s company from his training.
