(Finance) – It lasted about three hours there first meeting of the Technical Table summoned by Palazzo Chigi to discuss concession reform bathing and address the issue of mapping the Italian coasts in the presence of representatives of the competent ministries, regions and trade associations. The establishment of the Table had been foreseen in the ‘milleproroghe’ decree, which had remained in the drawer until now.
Next meeting on 4th July with the aim of responding to Europe which has started the infringement procedure against Italy precisely for the non-application of the directive Bolkenstein on the beach concessions which up to now have always been extended without proceeding with assignment through tenders.
The mapping of the coasts to trace the state of the state concessions is the fundamental step to understand if there is a scarcity of the ‘natural resource’, that is, the stretches of beach that can be tendered for new concessions, or if there is adequate availability. In this case, the stretches of beach ‘free’ from concessions could be put out to tender, as requested by the European institutions, and the existing concessions could remain with the current managers. Thisat least, would be the government’s intention to regularize its position with Brussels and at the same time meet the demands of operators in the sector. Today at the Technical Table it was decided to start from an examination of the existing mapping at the Sid (State Property Information System), to then define criteria and parameters to understand whether or not there is a scarcity of the natural resource. The current concessions, according to a ruling by the Council of State, cannot go beyond December 2023. Meanwhile, many Municipalities are organizing themselves to call tenders. However, a rule has been included in the milleproroghe decree according to which one can arrive in December 2024 to allow for the completion of the mapping.
Acquire quickly by the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport (Mit) which manages the information system of the maritime state property (Sid), all the data relating to maritime concessions, then define the criteria for establishing the existence of the so-called ‘natural resource’, i.e. the stretches of coast not occupied by concessions. These, according to a letter sent to the general secretariat of the Prime Minister, are the requests that three associations of seaside operators (Assobalneari, Assomarinas and Confindustria nautica)led to the first meeting of the Technical Table, which was set up to review the system of concession procedures and bring it into line with the Bolkenstein directive. There is a need, the letter reads, to “avoid further remarks by the European Commission and to acquire the necessary data from MIT as soon as possible”