Beach resorts, the League's blitz stalls: no extension of concessions
The Budget Committee is ready to raise the issue of Article 81 of the Constitution as the European Union would open an infringement procedure if concessions were delayed
Key points
The League's blitz in the Senate to extend beach concessions lasted less than three hours. That is, the time needed to get the text of the Commissioners' decree (also known as the Infrastructure or Bridge decree) through the Environment Committee's green light to the Budget's financial verification. In the former, the Leghisti snatched the OK for the postponement of the expiry date of the maritime licences in Calabria, Sicily and Sardinia by three years, while in the latter, the red paddle came with Article 81 of the Constitution and therefore the stop for lack of coverage.
The extension in the regions affected by the bad weather
The extension was however limited to the three regions affected by the bad weather in January. In the corrective measure, signed by League group leader Massimiliano Romeo, the consequences of Cyclone Harry were in fact mentioned. In particular, 'the damage to the coastal strip caused by the process of progressive coastal erosion' and 'meteorological events of exceptional intensity' that affected the territories in which the state of emergency was declared. Thus, it was seen as necessary to extend the concessions until September 2030 (in some cases until March 2031) in order to 'encourage immediate action' in view of the summer.
The opposition immediately saw it as an 'exercise in legislative hypocrisy'. "The drama of coastal erosion, which is real, serious and deserves real answers, is being used as a smokescreen to bring home yet another disguised extension," said Italia Viva senator Silvia Fregolent. A strategy that showed 'a sign of political weakness' according to the PD group leader in the Environment Committee, Marco Simiani.
The conflict with the Bolkestein directive
But it is not only an ethical aspect, because going ahead with the extension would have created problems with Brussels. In fact, it would have been yet another attempt by the current Italia government to somehow circumvent the Bolkestein directive, introduced by the EU in 2006, which prohibits the possibility of automatically renewing concessions and invites countries to hold tenders to protect the single European market.
Incompatibility with Article 81 of the Constitution
To start such a dispute now is not in the interest of the government and the majority. Also because, with the probable opening of an infringement procedure, the risk of paying economic consequences would have been high. Hence, the question of financial coverage and the incompatibility with Article 81 of the Constitution posed by the Budget Committee to overturn the corrective measure.
