In the end, the government chooses not to force the times with a blitz at the end of the year and on bathing concessions only opens a table with the Regions and operators in the sector. It was discussed yesterday during a meeting between the ministers of economic development (Giancarlo Giorgetti), tourism (Massimo Garavaglia), regional affairs (Mariastella Gelmini) and the representatives of the owners of establishments. In the end, summarizes a note from the Ministry of Development, “it was agreed to set up a technical-political table in order to arrive at a shared text for a definitive solution by mid-January”. Therefore, the hypothesis of a regulatory intervention already in today’s council of ministers to regulate tenders for maritime state-owned concessions for tourist use, a hypothesis that had been evaluated by the Prime Minister. In the end, it seems that the caution of the majority forces closest to the reasons of the current concession holders, Lega, Forza Italia and Pd in particular, prevails. A corrective in any case has now been considered indispensable in light of the sentence of the Council of State which rejected the extension without tender until the end of 2033, limiting it to 2023, to then proceed according to the procedures of the Bolkestein directive from 2024. The ministers assured operators measures “suitable for protecting businesses, investments made over the years often by family businesses and employment”. An agenda approved in Parliament during the examination of the budget law goes in this direction, aiming at the reorganization of the concessions that takes into account the recognition of the investments made and the commercial start-up of companies.
Already today, however, it emerged after the meeting between ministers and operators, a discussion should begin with the Regions to verify the work on the mapping of beach concessions, envisaged by article 2 of the competition law. “We will report the results of this meeting to Draghi – said Giorgetti – with the awareness that our duty, in the interest of the category, is to find shared solutions that are the best possible”. For Garavaglia, who will coordinate the table, “before any intervention, the government needs to know the point of view of the operators.”
In the November sentence, the Council of State had justified the mini-extension to 2023 precisely with the need to allow the PA to undertake “as of now” the operations functional to the tender procedures and to allow the government and parliament to approve dutifully, legislation that can “finally” bring the discipline into line with the Community legal order.