Beach club operators point out they have invested in their businesses, and warn of 300,000 jobs at stake.
But an EU competition directive in 2006 said that concessions should be allocated through a competitive bidding process.
Successive Italian governments have delayed applying the rules, wary of the powerful beach club lobby. But after legal proceedings at the Court of Justice of the European Union and with Rome risking a new EU probe on the issue, the auctions were finally set for 2025.
Italy’s Europe Minister Raffaelle Fitto said at a press conference this week that there are “ongoing” and “complex” discussions with the European Commission.
Matteo Salvini, leader of the far-right League party, which has close ties to beach club operators, said on Thursday that the government was pushing the EU commission on “the right of first refusal and compensation.”
“I hope that Europe gives us the OK, otherwise we will have a problem,” he said at a political event in the Tuscan beach town of Marina di Pietrasanta.
