Stop to exemptions on beach concessions. After the last deadline of 31 December 2023, the subsequent ones to be considered illegitimate. The ruling of the Council of State, the highest administrative justice body in Italy, concerning state concessions for beaches which therefore confirms their expiry andobligation to start new tenders. This decision obliges the local authorities not to consider any extensions valid until 31 December 2024, as provided for by the Milleproroghe decree, and to immediately start the tender procedure to assign the concessions in a context of real competition.
This decision requires local authorities, therefore, to do not consider further extensions valid until 31 December 2024, as provided for by the Milleproroghe decree, and to immediately launch the tender procedures for the assignment of concessions in a context of effective competition.
La judgment, numbered 03940/2024 of March 12, is the result of an appeal presented in 2023 by an owner of a beach establishment in Rapallo. The judges of the Council of State referred to the "principles of the Court of Justice of the European Union", reiterating the obligation to respect the concession deadlines and to guarantee a transparent and competitive assignment procedure.
The decision of the Council of State clearly reiterates that beach concessions must be managed in compliance with current regulations and European principles, with particular attention to guaranteeing transparent and competitive management of Italian beaches.
The beach resource is "scarce"
The ruling also underlines that the beach resource is considered "scarce", therefore rejecting the government's arguments regarding the availability of this resource. A thesis, supported by the government, through a mapping sent to Brussels and used as a reason not to apply the Bolkenstein Directive.
A mapping, done last autumn, which is being questioned. Although it shows that only 33% of the coasts are under concession, suggesting a surplus of beaches, it also includes non-bathing areas and rocky coasts that should not be included in the concessions.
The Council of State, referring to previous decisions of the European Court of Justice, establishes that the beach resource is "certainly scarce" and orders to "assign the concession in a truly competitive context". Regarding extensions, the Council underlines that "the 2018 legislation, contrary to the principles of European law, can be disapplied not only by national judges but also by municipal administrations".
Federbalneari: “we are dismayed”
The ruling by the Council of State sparked immediate reactions.
"We are dismayed for the umpteenth ruling of the Council of State which does not even respect the Draghi law on the terms of 2024 pending a now awaited reform of the seaside sector, nor the work required by the services directive on the 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. Against the courts that make the rules by replacing Parliament and also intervening on Euro-unitary principles. A chaotic situation that our country certainly cannot afford once the season has started,” he said Marco Maurelli, President of Federbalneari Italia.
The Northern League senator Gian Marco Centinaio he attacked the Council of State, underlining that "there is a state law that extends the concessions until 31 December 2024 and, given that the legislative power lies with Parliament, the judiciary must enforce that law, not boycott it".
Assobalneari condemned the sentence, calling it "unholy" and warning of the "risk for the 300.000 seasonal workers already employed".
