Beach concessions: tender obligation by June 2027, breakthrough in negotiations with the EU

Obligation to start tenders by June 2027 and extensions extended until 30 September of the same year. But with the faculty to anticipate the tenders for the municipalities that intend to do so. The reform of beach concessions passes through this articulated compromise with the European Commission. From the majority summit that took place on Friday morning, a substantial agreement would have emerged on a text finalised by the government, with the central role of the Ministry of EU Affairs, after long negotiations with Brussels. And now, unless there are any last-minute reversals, the reorganisation is on its way to the Council of Ministers (possibly convened on Tuesday) as part of the decree-law to save the infringements. The realisation is that an intervention is by now unavoidable, in a context (from the EU infringement procedure to the pronouncements of the Court of Justice and the Council of State, passing through the Constitutional Court and the Antitrust Authority) that sees the disapplication of the current Italian regulations on extensions as a very clear fact.

The draft, which also includes indemnities with certain stakes but excludes pre-emptions for outgoing concessionaires, provides first of all that the concessions that are already being extended today (the vast majority) will be valid until 30 September 2027, a term that may be extended until 31 March 2028 for objective reasons of difficulty in carrying out the tenders. In any case, tenders will have to be launched by 30 June 2027. This is a cut-off date but - and this is the heart of the painful compromise that Minister Fitto finalised with the Commission - it does not take away the municipalities' right to bring forward the procedures, if they give a congruous justification for the decision. The legal subtlety, which could prove decisive in the dispute with the EU rules, lies in the fact that it makes it difficult to attack the choice of a mayor to take advantage of the extension to September 2027: technically it would not be an automatic, generalised and inescapable extension (which has always been rejected by the EU) but a decision resulting from case-by-case evaluations on the basis of the interest of the territory of competence.

The draft being finalised then regulates several other aspects. The new concessions will last between five and 20 years. The municipality must notify any non-division into lots and the maximum number of lots that can be awarded to a single bidder must be specified, a clause that in the view of the governing majority should serve to protect micro-businesses. In the compromise with the Commission, points favourable to the category and local SMEs on the tender criteria would be ticked off. For example, the correspondence of the facilities to local traditions and the offer of services that enhance the specificities of the territory; technical and professional experience in comparable activities; having held a concession in the previous five years as the main source of personal income; the number of workers that the bidder undertakes to hire from the outgoing concessionaire; and the number of concessions already held in the conceding territory, penalising multi-licence holders.

As mentioned, there will be no pre-emptions for those leaving, a point on which Brussels has been immovable, while Fitto has almost unhoped-for, despite the traditional rigour of EU officials on the point, a yes to indemnities that will be borne by the sub-entrant and not by the state or the granting body. Indemnities that will be calculated on the value of depreciable and not yet depreciated assets and on the fair return on investment (as a result of a sworn expert appraisal) limited, however, to the last five years.