The Royal Spanish Automobile Federation (RFEDA) has almost 30,000 licenses in Spain and a budget of more than 10 million euros, organizes races and events in Montmeló, the Jerez circuit or the Ricardo Tormo circuit and is currently facing a territorial conflict due to bad relations with, among others, the Basque federation, which it unilaterally “disintegrated”. This leaves out hundreds of Basque drivers who, if they want to participate in national competitions, must pay an additional 350 euros to obtain a national license, in addition to the regional license.
With the presidential elections of October 14 and this underlying conflict, the Basque Federation filed a complaint that has just been admitted for processing by the Madrid Court of Instruction against the Higher Sports Council (CSD, a public body dependent on the government) for negligence of seven of the writings that denounced the situation and did not intervene to ensure that the disintegration did not take place or was reversed.
“We have sent letters to the CSD, we have met with them, also at a political level, and they are aware of it. The CSD protects and must set criteria, but when the non-compete is repeated or strategic, we are already entering into an omission of responsibility,” says Juan Carlos Soto, lawyer for the Basque federation, which has 360 pilot licenses, plus two hundred co-pilots.
elDiario.es has had access to a letter in which Joaquín Verdegay, until now vice-president of the RFEDA, reports that the Basques are not integrated from this year 2024 and stresses that, if they want to be, they must start the process again. Verdegay is the director of the RFEDA who hires his own law firm for 600,000 euros per year, as published by elDiario.es, and the number two of the current president Manuel Aviñó, who has doubled his income to 200,000 euros per year. The new assembly must elect a president in two weeks, between Aviñó and his critical competitor, Carlos Márquez, of the Asturian federation.
The 2022 sports law goes precisely in the opposite direction and requires that all regional federations be integrated into the national federation within two years of its entry into force, a period which is about to expire.
“The regulations are very clear. The law provides that the necessary integration will not entail any economic obligations. However, there may be financial obligations for other concepts. This is where the differences arise. The CSD helps to find solutions through mediation and constructive dialogue,” explain sources from the Council, who have not yet received notification of the complaint.
The economic conflict to which these sources refer is the refusal of Euskadi to sign an agreement that obliged them to distribute the license income with the RFEDA, which claims that due to this debt they cannot be part of it because they are not up to date with their obligations. The amount in dispute is 61,000 euros.
“This is not the only federation in which divergences appear. The Madrid Shooting Federation faces a similar situation,” they explain from the CSD. Precisely, a case of this federation is included in the complaint and the lawyer Juan Carlos Soto illustrates that the decisions were taken in response to certain complaints: “In recent years, the CSD has systematically ignored the different complaints, allegations and requests made by this party regarding actions of the Royal Spanish Automobile Federation, when the Royal Spanish Olympic Shooting Federation opened files on the presidents during the same period,” the letter states. These are complaints about alleged irregularities in accounting and the use of a home.
“The CDD is trying to resolve these differences through mediation and constructive dialogue. However, the simple mediation of the CSD is not enough. It is also necessary for all parties concerned to demonstrate a willingness to resolve these economic conflicts,” says the government agency, which pays nearly one million euros per year to the Automobile Federation to help it develop its activity, according to the budgets presented in 2023 and posted on its website. In addition to this complaint, there is a contentious-administrative appeal filed for the same disintegration.
The matter also degenerated into politics and the Basque Government supported its federation. Even in the Senate, a parliamentary question was raised to reinstate the Basques. “The CDD promotes a framework for dialogue. It has met with both federations, the national and the regional. Also with the Basque Government,” conclude sources from the Council.
RFEDA has been contacted but has not yet responded to elDiario.es’ request for information.
