The decision
Sentence No. 03940/2024, published today and decided by the VII section on 12 March, concerns a 2023 appeal by an owner of a beach establishment in Rapallo. The judges refer to the “principles of the EU Court of Justice, 20 April 2023, and to all previous European jurisprudence to immediately start the tender procedure to assign the concession in a truly competitive context”. Consequently, they underline the obligation for municipalities to disapply the exemptions by confirming the expiry of the concessions on 31 December last year. Furthermore, the sentence contests the fact that the beach resource is not scarce, a thesis instead supported by the government in the mapping carried out by the government and sent to Brussels and brought due to the failure to apply the Bolkenstein directive.
Federbalneari’s reaction: “Dismayed”
The reactions of the sector operators arrived quickly. “We are dismayed by yet another ruling from the Council of State which does not even respect the Draghi law on the terms of 2024 pending a long-awaited reform of the seaside sector, nor the work required by the services directive on mapping that the government is managing nor the formal negotiation with the EU Commission for a reform that we now believe is necessary to bring order to the sector. We are against the courts that make the rules by replacing Parliament and also intervening on Euro-unitary principles. A situation of chaos that our country certainly cannot afford once the season has begun “, says Marco Maurelli, president of Federbalneari Italia.
Sib: “For the State Council, the absence of compensation prevents the tender from being launched”
“The absence of the provision of compensation for the current concessionaires prevents the tendering of the current state-owned maritime concessions”, clarifies Antonio Capacchione, president of the Italian Seaside Union which is a member of Fipe Confcommercio (Sib). “This is now a consolidated jurisprudential orientation. These are decisions that prevent any escape from the Municipalities. I hope that, as repeatedly promised, the government will issue a law as soon as possible. And we will win this battle of ours to defend work, companies and Italian equipped bathing”, adds Capacchione, recalling that it is “a successful model that the world envies us and that we will not allow anyone to destroy”. And he concludes: “The Council of State also says that the tender cannot be launched in the absence of a provision regarding the right to compensation for the currently operating concessionaires”.
FdI sources: “Serious mapping, discussions with the EU”
Meanwhile, after the sentence, FdI sources report that “the mapping of the coasts, carried out in recent months by the technical table on the basis of the data provided by the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport, is the result of serious work which involved all the ministries The results of this work are the subject of the ongoing dialogue between the government and the European Commission, aimed at overcoming the infringement procedure and defining a reorganization rule for the entire sector that gives certainty to operators and local administrations”. The president of the FI senators Maurizio Gasparri does not mince words: “The Council of State – he says – needs advice on its state. Which appears, let’s say, criticisable. They should know, at the Council of State, that a mapping has been carried out of the Italian coasts and it turns out that the beaches are not a scarce resource”. According to the vice president of the Senate Gian Marco Centinaio “the Council of State has some problems with the measures, both of the Italian coasts and of its own competences”.
The opinion of the opposition
On the other side of the barricade, Green Europe co-spokesman and Green and Left MP Angelo Bonelli says: “Today the Meloni government’s beach mapping work which had extended Italian beaches by 3 thousand km, bringing them from 8,000 to 11,000, has been disproven km. Just to demonstrate that Italian beaches are a disposable asset and therefore not to put the current state concessions out to tender”. According to the secretary of Più Europa, Riccardo Magi, “the Council of State has said what is clear for all to see but which the Government continues to ignore: beaches in Italy are not scarce resources and tenders for the assignment must be made right away”. For the democratic group leader in the European Affairs Committee of the Chamber, Piero De Luca, “the Government is playing with fire on the issue of beach concessions. It can no longer decide not to decide”. For M5s senator Marco Croatti “once again there is a sharp rejection of the Meloni government’s actions regarding beach concessions”.
SUBSCRIBE TO THE SKY TG24 WHATSAPP CHANNEL
