Bathing establishments, extensions to 2027 and saving sports clubs. Green light in House committee

The thousands of sports clubs on the banks of rivers, lakes and seas are saved from the Bolkenstein trap. The long-awaited 'save-circles' rule, the result of the agreement reached in recent days with Europe, has been put down on paper and approved by the combined Finance and Justice Committees of the Chamber of Deputies. Once this last knot has been untied, they have been able to conclude the examination of the decree law on EU infringements, which goes to the Chamber of Deputies tomorrow, where it will be put to a vote of confidence.

The green light is therefore also given to the extension of concessions until 2027, after which the tenders will be launched. The most delicate game was in fact that of the balnearia, with the waiting in committee of the rule that should have translated the agreement reached on Friday with Brussels: the rule to save sports clubs from Bolkenstein. The text, which was the subject of lengthy negotiations and a political confrontation between the group leaders and the government, in the watchful presence of the Minister for Relations with Parliament Luca Ciriani, arrived in the evening, when the committees had already finished voting on all the shelved amendments. Excluded from Bolkenstein are amateur sports clubs and associations that carry out their activities on a stable and principal basis and pursue exclusively social and recreational purposes. Therefore, refreshment facilities within clubs are excepted, provided that the main activity is sporting and not economic.

"The purpose is sporting and non-sporting activity must be subordinate instrumental," explained Sports Minister Andrea Abodi, who chaired the commissions' work. "There was an understanding to safeguard this inestimable heritage, which is that of the activities in concession by amateur sports associations and clubs, sports federations, promotion bodies including Paralympic ones, that is, a world that cannot be considered commercial, that is part of the social economy and is a world totally linked to the non-profit and this I think has made the difference," he explained, clarifying that there are about 1,500 clubs that are saved by the rule. 'The minister's clarification makes the interpretation correct,' commented FI group leader at the Chamber of Deputies Paolo Barelli. The PD, on the other hand, rejects the "very bad" text of the rules on bathing establishments, which disregard the "many promises made in recent days to bathers": "the government first deluded bathers with miraculous promises and then, more realistic than the king, has diligently aligned itself to the diktats of the Commission," say the Dem deputies in the two commissions. On the other hand, the majority amendments that aimed to extend the compensation were withdrawn.

The measure, which introduces compulsory tenders for bathing concessions by 2027 and contains rules on the compensation to be paid to outgoing concessionaires, receives the go-ahead for a reformulation that saves removable structures: they can remain installed - even out of season - until the tender is awarded. The League, signatory of the amendment, applauds: "More protection for bathers", "excellent news for those who have invested in their activity". However, the measure meets with protests from the opposition. "It is an amnesty of what has been carried out even contra legem," said M5s deputy Federico Cafiero De Raho.