The Government of La Rioja chaired by the socialist Concepción Andreucandidate for re-election in the regional elections on May 28, has granted more than two million euros in public aid to the company run by her husband, the oenologist Rodolfo Bastida.
These assignments cover the period from August 30, 2019 -one day after Andreu’s inauguration- to December 30, 2022, as recorded in the registry of the National Public Subsidies and Aid Public System of the General State Administration (AGE). Andreu became President of La Rioja after reaching an agreement with Podemos and United Left.
Specifically, the company Bodegas Ramón Bilbao SA, of which Rodolfo Bastida was already a director in 2019, appears as a beneficiary of twenty aids and subsidies from the Government of La Rioja chaired by his wife. Such allocations, which add up to a total amount of 2.002.079,16 euroswere granted either by the Ministry of Agriculture, the Ministry of Education and the Department of Autonomous Developmenton which the Economic Development Agency of La Rioja (ADER) depends.
This agency is a public entity of the Government of La Rioja, attached to the Department of Autonomous Development, in charge of developing the industrial economic promotion policy, “mainly in the field of small and medium-sized companies» from La Rioja. The ADER maintains that, through “different lines of aid and tools”, its objective is “to consolidate a more balanced, modern and sustainable region, together with the business fabric”.
In the case of Bodegas Ramón Bilbao, it is not a small or medium-sized company, but one of the large firms in the sector that operate in this community. In fact, as OKDIARIO has published, this company obtained Covid aid for “wine storage” in 2020 for an amount of 816.830,99 eurosmonopolizing together with other companies (CVNE and Pernod Ricard) 44% of the total amount of the plan, which amounted to 5.1 million euros.
Concepción Andreu, president of La Rioja. (Photo: PSOE)
In fact, the PP took this matter to the Parliament of La Rioja to denounce that this money was going to be “distributed by three large winery companies, three large wineries, which precisely They are not the most affected due to the closure of the Horeca channel, due to the closure of the hotel industry during the Covid crisis ». The specialized portal lomejordelvinoderioja.com then reported that there were more than 200 active wineries in La Rioja, while only 61 applications were submitted and successful given the bureaucracy and the requirements that were set (such as a guarantee of 110% of the aid requested ).
For example, in the list of aid from the Andreu Government to the winery run by her husband, another amount of 286.414,36 euros aimed at the “promotion in third-country markets of the support program for the Spanish wine sector in the autonomous community of La Rioja”. Likewise, in relation to the Department of Education, there is an allocation of 1.148,55 euros within the program signed with “collaborating companies in dual vocational training projects” in this region.
Patrimony
It so happens that Andreu has an important patrimony with her husband, including here up to eight “heredad viña secano” farms, as revealed exclusively by OKDIARIO last week. The socialist president of La Rioja has two apartments in Logroño, one next to her husband, eight rustic farms in communal property and an apartment for both of them in an exclusive golf complex, according to documentation in the Land Registry. In his declaration of assets in the La Rioja Parliament, only the figure of 132.630,56 eurosrelative to the «cadastral value».
Urbanization of the Sojuela golf club.
While said apartment is located in the Sojuela golf club urbanization, the eight rustic properties are located in the municipality of Ábalos (La Rioja). An enclave that is characterized by its careful care of the vines. These lands were purchased by the couple in 2016, some area exceeding 4,000 square meters.
