News comes from Puglia which also involves the seaside resorts of Calabria and Crotone. The Bari Regional Administrative Court declared the tender procedure for 21 bathing establishments in Monopoli to be illegitimate, announcing the extension of the concessions to 2033. In particular, the third section of the Apulian Court published 21 separate sentences, highlighting how the tenders for state maritime concessions do not are necessary, since for European law the publication in the municipal noticeboard of the requests for extension/assignment of concessions is sufficient. This is in line with the ruling of the European Court of Justice of 20 April 2023, which left wide discretion to Member States also on the provisions aimed at concretely guaranteeing the impartiality and transparency of a selection procedure. This is what we read in a note issued by Adnkronos.
For the lawyer Nicolò Maellaro, national vice-president of the union ‘La Base balneare con Donnedamare’, who defended the reasons of the establishments together with the lawyer Colonna, “the Monopoli case demonstrates that today, in the light of European law, there is no no need to call for tenders for concessions. It is therefore necessary to continue, on the one hand, a timely and technical confrontation with the European Community, and on the other, it is urgent to obtain a legislative provision from the Italian Government that prevents the municipalities from proceeding in no particular order”, concludes Maellaro.
This is echoed by Assobalneari Italia, a member of Federturismo Confindustria and ‘La Base balneare con Donnedamare’, which together represent 70% of the category: “The decisions of the Apulian TAR are welcome, because they help to create clarity at a time when clarity is essential for the continuation of the bathing season. However, the definitive solution to the matter must remain political and we ask for an urgent and timely clarification: perhaps in Brussels they don’t know that the bathing season has begun in Italy, the municipalities are in disarray and everyone is inventing baseless rules. We need a pool of technical experts of primary standing in discussions with the European Community capable of dealing with the issue from a technical, administrative, but also and above all economic point of view, as the spirit of Bolkestein is economic”, they conclude.
