Multi-taskers: Julio Ríos

One of the civil society organisations backing the City of Barcelona's policy proposals in the recent Barcelona plebiscite was the Federació de Cases Regionals. The cases regionals are social clubs for an older generation of immigrants who'd come to the city from elsewhere in Spain rather than abroad. Their day-to-day business centres on dominoes, dancing, and food. 

One of these clubs, the Casa de Ceuta is a modest affair, as befits the modesty of Ceuta itself, a town on seventy thousand inhabitants on the northern African coast, one of two remaining Spanish enclaves. Julio Ríos Gavira presided over the club from 1993 to 2000, when he was elected president of the federation of cases regionals. It's a prominent post, of the kind that can get one a seat beside the Minister of Defence:

Mr Ríos enjoys a seat on the Consell de Ciutat, which is not as its name suggest city council but a consultative body set up to address the democratic deficit by means other than direct election. (Interest groups or functional constituencies are represented on the council, but do not stage internal elections to chose their representative. But that's another story.)

Why did Mr Ríos, on behalf of his federation and its membership, endorse a plan to remodel a major thoroughfare and build a new street car line? Will regional dancers dance down the avenue? Might regional walkers walk down the avenue? Perhaps not: here's a list of municipal grants to cases regionals in 2010, from which I've omitted the object of each grant. Grantees may thus appear more than once:

• CASA DE LOS NAVARROS - NAFARREN ETXEA: 1.000,00 €
• CENTRE COMARCAL LLEIDATA: 1.500,00 €
• CASA DE VALENCIA EN BARCELON:  6.000,00 €
• CENTRO ARAGONES DE BARCELONA: 3.700,00 €
• CASA DE CADIZ ASOCIACION ANDALUZA: 1.800,00 €
• CASA DE ALMERIA EN BARCELONA: 2.200,00 €
• CENTRO ASTURIANO DE BARCELONA CULTURA: 2.500,00 €
• CASA DE MENORCA A BARCELONA 600,00 €
• CASA REGIONAL DE MURCIA Y ALBACETE: 2.200,00 €
• CASA DE CEUTA: 3.400,00 €
• CASA DE MADRID EN BARCELONA: 5.200,00 €
• HOGAR EXTREMEÑO DE BARCELONA: 2.500,00
• CASA DE SORIA EN BARCELONA ACTIVIDADES CULTURALES: 2.300,00
• CASA DE CUENCA EN BARCELONA: 2.800,00 €
• CASA DE ANDALUCIA EN BARCELONA: 4.500,00 €
• CENTRO GALEGO DE BARCELONA: 5.100,00 €
• FEDERACION ENTIDADES CULTURALES ANDALUZAS EN CATALUÑA: 5.000,00 €
• FEDERACION ENTIDADES CULTURALES ANDALUZAS EN CATALUÑA:  36.000,00 €
• AMIGOS DA GAITA "TOXOS E XESTAS":  7.500,00 €
• AGRUPACION CULTURAL GALEGA SAUDADE: 8.000,00 €
• FEDERACIÓN DE ENTIDADES SOCIOCULTURALES DE CASTILLA Y LEON: 2.300,00 €
• AMICS DE MALLORCA:  1.100,00 €
• CASA DE CANTABRIA EN BARCELONA: 1.200,00 €
• FEDERACIÓN DE CASAS REGIONALES Y ENTIDADES CULTURALES: 8.000,00 €
• CENTRE ANDALUZ CULTURAL Y ARTISTICO MANUEL DE FALLA: 2.000,00 €
• CENTRE CULTURAL EUSKAL ETXEA: 1.000,00 €
• CASA DE CASTILLA LA MANCHA EN BARCELONA: 2.000,00 €
• FEDERACION ASOCIACIONES EXTREMEÑAS EN CATALUNYA: 4.000,00 €
• HERMANDAD ANDALUZA NTRA.SRA. DEL ROCIO: 4.000,00 €
• FEDERACIO D'ASSOCIACIONS BALEARS A CATALUNYA LES ILLES BALEARS A BARCELONA: 500,00 €
• FEDERACION ANDALUZA DE COMUNIDADES: 1.800,00 €
• CENTRO ARAGONÉS DE SARRIÁ: 2.800,00 €
• CENTRO CULTURAL GARCIA LORCA 9 BARRIOS DE BARCELONA: 1.000,00 €
• CENTRO ANDALUZ DE LA COMARCA DE ESTEPA Y SIERRAS DEL SUR: 500,00 €
• CENTRO LEONES DE CATALUNYA:  3.000,00 €
• FEDERACION DE COMUNIDADES DE CASTILLA LA MANCHA EN CATALUÑA PROJECTE ACTIVITAT: 4.000,00 €
• FEDERACION DE ENTIDADES GALEGAS DE CATALUNYA: 12.000,00 €
• CENTRO ANDALUZ COMARCA DE LINARES: 1.500,00 €

That's just from one level of government out of eight, and under one heading (that of participation).  Why bite the hand that feeds?