«We concessionaires of maritime state property in Sicily are perfectly in compliance with the European Bolkestein directive, in case it were also applied to seaside resorts. It may seem strange, but that’s how it is.” The seaside entrepreneur says so Antonio Firullo, president of the Sicilian Seaside Tourist Association. «In Sicily we did not have a tacit extension of our concessions to 2033, but rather we obtained it after a formal request via the Region’s public portal, which made it immediately public all over the world», argues Firullo, who says also his personal case as an example: «I submitted a formal request for extension on 27 August 2020 and received the new concession deed until 2033 on 25 June 2021, after having integrated various documentation requested by the regional offices to start a new preliminary-administrative process which, among other things, forced me to pay 250 euros for investigation rights, of a new one insurance guarantee to guarantee the payment of the state property fee until 2033, 2% for the registration of the new deed at the Palermo Registry Office (I personally paid 1,976.27 euros) and of 144 euros for direct VAT taxes. Furthermore, I supported the expenses for the Durc and the anti-mafia certification. The new concession deed valid until 2033 was registered and obtained fifty days after publication on the Sicily Region website, on 7 May 2021, even ten months after the extension request presented publicly on the Portal of the Maritime State Property of Sicily”.
Firullo continues: «The regularity of this procedure was also recognized by the State Council which, with several recent twin sentences, denied the extension of the concessions to some of our colleagues from Lavagna (Liguria) since they had obtained the tacit renewal of the concession until 2033 from the Municipality without a new preliminary investigation procedure and the consequent release of a new deed” . On the contrary, the Tar of Bari in the following days it confirmed the regularity of 21 beach concessions until 2033 because the renewals had been published on the praetorian notice board.
«I could say that my application for extension to 2033, like that of my other dealer colleagues in Sicily, was well received.public highlighting“, without forgetting that the new act was published on the Sicily Region website for fifty days before being formalized with a protocol number and delivered to the undersigned”, underlines the Sicilian seaside entrepreneur. «In this regard it is necessary to clarify that, to date, the European Commission has never requested tenders nor an expiration of the concessions, but rather asked exclusively for public evidence, without however giving indications on how to be applied. Given that by law public evidence is mandatory only for the release of a new area, and not for existing concessions”.
The president of the Sicilian Seaside Tourist Association also replies to Legambiente Sicilywhich in recent days has asked to cancel the extension to 2033 on the island’s concessions: «To the friends of Legambiente Sicilia I would like to point out that, in the case of tenders in our concession areas, there will be no more free beaches as they hope to achieve. On the contrary, we would find ourselves faced with changes in management of the concession area, with a new structure in the name of other people or, even worse, multinationals who would upset the existing environment. However, the reason for the appeal presented by the environmental association to the President of the Region against the councilor’s decree which extended our concessions remains a mystery. The decree, in fact, has nothing to do with the environment the association deals with.”
Firullo continues: «Legambiente also returns to ask for the implementation of article 6 of regional law 32/2020 which obliges the commissioner of non-compliant coastal municipalities for the drafting of plans for the use of maritime state property by 30 June 2021. Without prejudice to the fact that in the meantime the covid emergency occurred at this deadline, the commissioners were in any case appointed some time ago by the regional department for land and environment, and they drew up the Pudm to replace the Municipalities. The problem is only the long and laborious process of approving the PUDMs, nothing else. Furthermore, Legambiente Sicilia even requests “the immediate implementation of the ruling of the Constitutional Court 108/2022 on the stop to the issuing of new concessions in the absence of the Pudm”, but it is a useless and superfluous request, as requests for the issuing of authorizations are valid in Sicily short-term for 90 days, not foreseen in the Pudm of the coastal municipalities even if approved. Therefore, I would like to say to the dear president of Legambiente Sicilia Tommaso Castronovo that, while I agree with his statement that beaches are a common good, our beach facilities do not take away space from the community at all. In Sicily the concession areas account for less than 20% of the employment of all 1500 kilometers of coast and of these, the beach establishments account for only 9%. The others are in fact concessions issued for industrial, not tourist-recreational, activities. Compliance with the rule which provides for 50% free beach is therefore evident. In essence, there is no such thing as a “scarce resource” and if previously this could have been an unconfirmed data, now it is thanks to the mapping of the coasts carried out by the Italian government. In essence, we are consistent with article 12 of the European Bolkestein directive.”
The entrepreneur concludes: «I remember that in Sicily the concessions of maritime state property are the exclusive competence of the Region, which also obtains the proceeds, and not of the Municipalities. Our bathing facilities were all made of wood, with environmentally friendly and easy to remove material, as well as after a laborious, difficult and very rigid preliminary approval process, to say the least, after obtaining authorizations and opinions issued by various bodies in charge of state property maritime, in particular by Superintendencies of Cultural Heritage, Municipalities, territorial civil engineering offices, territorial port authorities, territorial customs offices and municipal health offices. We dealers comply with all regulations, such as the guidelines for the management of public maritime property, even before the pseudo environmentalists, because we care more about the environment and respect for the rules. I also remind Tommaso Castronovo of Legambiente Sicilia that we are the ones who have given decorum to completely abandoned and dirty beaches, guaranteeing cleanliness for the entire period of the calendar year and important services such as rescue, first aid, an equipped infirmary and access routes for disabled people. Services that not even coastal municipalities provide, even though they are required by law. The portions of the beach are not granted to us out of kindness or grace received, but rather because we pay an annual fee and are free to carry out any legally permitted activity connected and complementary to bathing for the entire period of the calendar year. Of course, we are also nightclubs because this is permitted to us by law; but it is not we seaside resorts who alter or interrupt the functionality or effectiveness of a natural place. I won’t forget that it is we seaside resorts who guarantee work for us and for many other unemployed people, especially among the many young people, with a turnover that involves many sectors of the regional economy. In short, you have to be really reckless to ask to stop a productive system that is necessary for the community, the driving force of tourism which, moreover, guarantees certain income into the coffers of the Sicily Region (around 11 million euros per year). We seaside resorts in Sicily are second to none in the world, we have the most beautiful coasts and we have given them a heart, therefore we will not let the sacrifices of so many families risk being wasted by the will of those who demand justice that we already respect.”
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