The managers of around 80% of Italy’s organized beaches have called a two-hour warning strike (actually a kind of business “lockout”… which has penalized bathers more) in protest at the fact that concession licenses have expired from… 31 December 2023 , without being renewed.
The Meloni government tried to grant an extension, but the matter clashed with the ecological sensitivity of the Italian Council of State, which rejected patchwork solutions, calling for new tenders. Consumer associations stressed that citizens who have paid in advance, renting umbrellas and sunbeds, should be compensated with an extra “free” day at the beach.
The issue also concerns the relationship between the government of Rome and Brussels. The European Union has repeatedly asked Italy to call for new tenders for the infrastructure located on its beaches, in order to favor free competition. According to information, the Meloni government is trying to find a compromise solution. He is reported to be proposing to Brussels that the operating licenses of organized beaches be extended until 2030, but only in regions where free beaches exceed 75% of the total.
It is worth noting that in yesterday’s “lockout” the business associations of beach operators Sib-Confcommercio and Fiba-Confesercenti participated, but not Asso-Balneari, in order “not to punish”, as he pointed out, “thousands of vacationers who chose Italy unfairly” for their holidays”.
The conflict takes place against the backdrop of the Italian struggle for free beaches, which continues with unabated tension. Green MP and Europa Verde representative, Agnello Bonelli, complained that “there are interests in the country that remain untouched”. He pointed out that the organized establishments increased in Italy by 26%, reaching 7,244, while of the annual revenues of more than 10 billion euros they pay only 115 million euros in taxes to the Italian state. Bonelli announced that his party submitted a proposal for a law to triple the taxation of beach operators and to declare at least 70% of the country’s coasts free.
#Lock #umbrellas #sunbeds
