“The bathing concessions of Italian beaches cannot be renewed automatically but must be subject to a selection procedure”. Extend them automatically until December 31, 2033 so you can’t. The Court of Justice of the EU could not be clearer. In the freshly pronounced sentence, the Luxembourg judges also recall the primacy of European law over national law, whereby “the administrative authorities are required to apply the relevant rules of Union law, disapplying the provisions of national law that do not comply with them” . Translated: if Italy automatically renews the concessions, against the dictates of the EU, lawsuits can start in Italy that Italy will never win.
The specification has become a must. Faced with a Europe that says that tenders are not needed and Italy that does not organize them, there are those in the country who have followed national regulations. This is where the cause arose, from concessions extended automatically in Puglia in compliance with Italian provisions, and in particular the 2018 law (Conte I government) which extends the concessions for the use of beaches until the end of 2033. Now twelve-star justice says once again «no».
The sentence of the Court of Justice adds to the already substantial file charged to Italy in the matter of beach concessions. A ruling by the same EU Court in 2016 where it is already established that the automatic extension of authorizations violates Community law, an infringement procedure started in 2020, and an ongoing clash with the von der Leyen Commission which risks a referral if it does not return and fines, probably hefty.
Since the story has been dragging on for years, from Luxembourg he would like to clarify the following: the obligation for the Member States to apply an impartial and transparent selection procedure among potential candidates, as well as the ban on automatically renewing an authorization issued for a given activity «are stated in an unconditional and sufficiently precise manner
by the directive”. A clarification that sounds like a warning.