The EU urges Meloni on seaside resorts: for the premier, however, it remains a “complex issue”

A spokesman for the Commission, in the wake of Commissioner Breton, recalled the infringement procedure opened in 2020. The premier, pressed by Lega and FI, hesitates. Yet another abjuration in sight. In the meantime, the summit announced by Calderoli on differentiated autonomy is off

The next test bench in which Giorgia Meloni’s executive will be engaged concerns the seaside concessions: after the frictions with the category of petrol stations – which resulted in the strike that begins today – one wonders if also in this case Meloni is willing to go back on the promises of the electoral campaign, and therefore whether it will align itself with the European directives. The central point is the extension of the current concessions, expiring on 31 December this year: the prime minister would like to proceed with the extension, as she had repeatedly reiterated in recent months, but European constraints prevent her from doing so. Yesterday a further rebuke came from a spokesman for the European Commission: he let it be known that the EU will remain inflexible on the matter, relying on the Bolkestein directive (and reaffirmed by a sentence of the European Court of Justice dated July 2016), that obliges Italy to tender for concessions. This despite the spokeswoman of the European Commission for the Economy, Veerle Nuyts, clarified during a briefing that “the seaside concessions are not formally included in the objectives and milestones of the Pnrr”. A position that had made members of the majority rejoice, such as the Forza Italia senator Maurizio Gasparri, according to which “this further statement demonstrates how feasible the path of an extension is to clarify the state of things also in the light of a sentence by the Council of State full of errors and the questionable application of the Bolkestein directive”.