On the day of mobilization in Rome, the seaside resorts' battle is divided to ask the government to approve a law as soon as possible that gives certainty to the sector.
On the one hand, a large demonstration in Piazza Santi Apostoli, organized by Sib and Fiba with thousands of workers and dealers from the factories together with the mayors of the territories, arriving from all over Italy. On the other hand, two press conferences, organized in the Chamber of Deputies and the European Parliament in Brussels by Assobalneari Italia, a member of Federturismo-Confindustria, and Base Balneare con Donnedamare: together with them also representatives of Fratelli d'Italia, Forza Italia and Lega.
In the streets the tone is clear: «We are ready for all discussions and to re-evaluate every hypothesis but in order to have certain rules if necessary there will be further steps of strong pressure towards politics in the coming months, also considering in the first days of June to close the 'Italian seaside offer - warns Maurizio Rustignoli, president of Fiba -. If we are not listened to, we are ready to keep the beaches closed."
If there is no progress, «with great respect, President of the Republic and President Meloni, on June 2nd, we will organize Republic Day on our beaches - ironically Antonio Capacchione, president of the Italian Seaside Union which is a member of Fipe/Confcommercio -. Then we will also organize the electoral campaign for the European elections and, given that a week later the politicians will come to Puglia, we will also organize the G7 there." "Everything was attempted to boycott this event and divide the seaside associations, even yesterday with a farce meeting and today with a conference at the same time in the Chamber - he adds -. However, we are all united and we want only one thing, to continue doing our job ." Compared to the government "we consider Giorgia Meloni a coherent, strong president with the attributes", but "today she made a mistake in not being here with us".
At the same time, from the meetings in the institutional offices comes "a strong appeal on behalf of all Italian seaside resorts" against a "distorted application of the Bolkestein" which "harms the interests of our country", also because "it risks throwing dozens of thousands of people" claim Fabrizio Licordari and Bettina Bolla, presidents of Assobalneari-Confindustria and Base Balneare.
For Maurizio Gasparri (Forza Italia) , «as demonstrated during the mapping, the majority of Italian beaches are available for the establishment of new businesses: therefore the Bolkestein directive which regulates competition must not be applied, because the scarcity of resources do not exist". However, "I reiterate that beach resorts need to produce more effective unitary communication." As for the government, "we are moving forward to guarantee maximum protection for those who, with their investments and commitment, have made equipped bathing an excellence of Italian tourism", explains Carlo Fidanza, head of the Fratelli d'Italia delegation in Parliament European . However, criticism of the positions of the beach resorts and the executive comes from opposition representatives such as the national co-spokesperson of Green Europe and deputy of the Green and Left Alliance, Angelo Bonelli: «The strategy of non-decision that the Meloni government is implementing with respect to the issue of beach concessions it is unacceptable. This executive, constantly looking for excuses to postpone decisions, is playing with time, trying to circumvent the European Union's directives. They are blocking the tenders and asking to decide after the EU elections, after having worked on a fake mapping that extended the Italian coast by 3,000 km."
(Unioneonline/D)