Race against time on bathers, government mediates with Brussels

The seaside resort issue promises to be one of the most delicate topics of the summit scheduled tomorrow at 10am between Giorgia Meloni, Matteo Salvini and Antonio Tajani. The different positions in the centre-right in recent months have not helped to unravel the complex issue, but now the Prime Minister has decided to accelerate. As majority sources explain, more than the risk of sanctions from the European Union for the failure to comply with the Bolkestein directive, the municipalities that have started to move in random order by putting beaches out to tender are worrying. And so the premier also addressed the issue in her first meeting after returning from holiday, namely the one with Raffaele Fitto, the candidate in pectore for the role of Italian EU commissioner.

It is not going to be easy to find a solution to a long-standing problem, which in recent months has also created tensions in the majority and led in the summer to a lockout by the entrepreneurs of the lidos (a category generally close to the centre-right), who have long been asking for a certain regulatory framework and the safeguarding of the business value of the establishments. The government's attempt to postpone the tenders by one year, to 2025 - on which there was a stern warning from the President of the Republic Sergio Mattarella in February 2023 - has been stopped by the Council of State. Fitto has been working for some time on a compromise acceptable to the Commission, but in the coalition so far the line had prevailed, supported mainly by the League and part of Fi, to insist on the mapping of the coastline (rejected by the EU) to prove that the free beach resource is not scarce and therefore the Bolkestein directive should not be applied.

In the past few days, Salvini has indicated pre-emption for outgoing concessionaires and compensation for work carried out as priorities. A solution is considered anything but simple, while talks between Rome and Brussels continue at high levels and in confidential form. Among the reasonings being made in the government, there would also be a possible increase in the order of 10% of the minimum concessionary fees, which after a 25% increase in 2023 in 2024 dropped to €3,225.50. Should the stalemate be broken, it is not excluded that the solution could end up in a not too long time in a decree to save the infringement. Otherwise, the Commission's procedure will continue, with Italy's referral to the European Court of Justice and a case that could last for months, with sanctions that are difficult to avoid.

The immediate problem, majority sources explain, is that in the absence of a clear framework, and also in the light of the Antitrust Authority's warning on the need to avoid further extensions, the municipalities are proceeding with tenders with different criteria and timing. Lignano Sabbiadoro, for example, envisages allocations of up to 15 years, while Gaeta aims to reward those who guarantee services and investments without consuming state land and sets a limit of one concession per entrepreneur.