ROME (AP) — The latest chapter in a seemingly endless saga over the management of Italy’s lucrative beach concessions has set Italy’s beaches ablaze this summer.
For almost two decades, the European Commission has been embroiled in a legal battle with Italy over the country’s practices regarding beach concessions, accusing the country of a lack of transparency and breaching competition rules.
Italian governments, from left to right, have stubbornly resisted EU directives requiring competitive tendering. They have continually extended existing beach concessions without prior public tendering.
After the latest extension approved by the far-right government of Giorgia Meloni until the end of this year, Rome has run out of options and will have to comply with EU rules from early 2025.
“We are in a phase of total uncertainty and we want our rights to be preserved,” said Susanna Barbadoro, who represents the third generation of owners of a beach concession in Ostia, a popular seaside resort near Rome.
Beach concessions have been passed down through generations for decades. Critics see this as a kind of monopoly and a symbol of Italy’s resistance to economic reform.
Prices for beach-goers vary along the Italian coast, with two sun loungers and a parasol for a day costing from 25 euros in the most basic establishments to hundreds of euros in posh resorts such as Capri or Salento in Puglia.
The beach operators complain that they have made huge investments to make their establishments comfortable for their regular customers and are now demanding compensation.
Barbadoro was one of hundreds of beach operators who went on strike on August 9, symbolically closing their umbrellas for two hours in the early morning to make their voices heard to the government.
“We are asking that operators who have been active in this sector for years retain a right of pre-emption (in the tenders) or receive some form of compensation if they do not get the concession,” she said.
However, economists say beach concession owners have long abused their privileged position and have returned only a small portion of their revenues to the Italian state over the years.
According to the Italian Court of Auditors, from 2016 to 2020, the Italian government received around €97 million annually from the country’s 12,166 beach concessions. This means that, with an average turnover estimated at €260,000, these companies only paid around €7,600 per year for their concessions.
“Competition would be beneficial for everyone, especially in this area where we are not talking about private property, but about the public domain that these companies get almost for free,” said economist Pietro Paganini.
Paganini also said that Italian governments of all political persuasions have been protecting beach concession owners for years, as they represent a valuable source of votes.
Last year, the Meloni government submitted a mapping report to Brussels in a final attempt to justify its failure to implement the so-called Bolkestein Directive, which was adopted in 2006 to ensure greater competition in several sectors.
According to the data provided, only 33% of the Italian coastline is under concession, indicating that there is no ‘scarcity of beach resources’ and therefore no need for the competitive tenders required by EU rules.
However, EU representatives have pointed out that the mapping took into account 11,000 kilometres of coastline, including rocky shores and non-swimming areas, which would never be eligible for a concession.
Members of “Mare Libero” (Free Sea) — an association that has been organizing protests to reclaim free space on Italian beaches since 2019 — hope that the introduction of new rules in the bidding process will also help to guarantee beachgoers sufficient free access.
“We want the Italian state to restore a fair number of free beaches, that is, at least 50%, while the remaining 50% will be under concession,” said Roberto del Bove, Mare Libero coordinator for the central Lazio region.
