Brussels, 06/05/2011 (Agence Europe) - A dispute has been running in Italy for two years now and shows no sign of abating - far from it. If the news in Italian media that the Italian government is planning to hand over the management of beaches in Italy to private individuals and companies for the next 90 years prove to be correct and officially confirmed by the government, then the European Commission says it would be “very surprised” because this would not comply with the EU single market rules. These were the words used by a European Commission spokesperson, Chantal Hughes (a spokesperson for EU Internal Market and Services Commissioner Michel Barnier), at the midday press conference on Friday 6 May, in response to questions from Italian reporters. She said that the Commission had followed the news in the Italian press and would be asking the Italian government for further information about the draft law unveiled to the Italian cabinet on Thursday 5 May by Italian economy minister Giulio Tremonti. The “development law” provides for “land rights” along the entire shoreline for a duration of 90 years.
The spokesperson's statements were immediately commented upon in Italy, where Environment Minister Stefania Prestigiacomo, speaking in Palermo at the summer university of the EPP Group at the European Parliament, said it was a storm in a teacup because the government had not sold off beaches at low cost to private individuals and companies, but had protected the shoreline and beaches to ensure foreigners could not run them as Italian operators have always run Italian beaches.
In Brussels, the European Commission says it has not received any notification of the measure from the Italian government, pointing out that it had not been consulted about the law. The Commission has already sent two warning letters to Italy, thereby opening infringement proceedings, over the Italian system of “maritime contracts”, the quasi automatic renewal of beach management contracts every six years. The warning letters were sent on 29 January 2009 and 5 May 2010, the second one a year ago. Nothing has yet been settled, although the Commission and Italy have worked hard in recent months to agree on rules that comply with the single market. Brussels argues that the quasi automatic renewal every six years of the current contracts breaches competition rules and the single market, and reportedly prefers an auctioning of the right to manage beaches after an appropriate short length of time. Chantal Hughes explained that the devil was in the detail and the Commission needs to study the matter in depth.
A representative of beach management operators in Italy, Vincenzo Lardinelli, criticised the Commission's attitude as unfair, commenting that every time there is an attempt to protect something that works well in Italy, Brussels steps in and says no. (Gp/transl.fl)