Zucconi (FdI): “Stop blaming the beach resorts. Now let’s find a solution with the EU”

Riccardo Zucconi he undoubtedly competes for the title of most balnearist of the majority. So much so that he confesses to Il Foglio that he resented a cartoon by Makkox on this theme very dear to him: “He’s a very good cartoonist, let’s be clear. I follow him, I like him. But on the concessions I think he was the victim of a media circle that tends to be all crushed against the seaside resorts”. Member of the Brothers of Italy in his second term in Parliament, 67 years old, from Versilia, Zucconi is keen to point out that he has never held a concession in his lifetime, even though he is an entrepreneur in the hotel sector with his family. Why are we wrong in maintaining that the seaside sector is a last remnant of a monopoly, increasingly impossible to subject to the rules of the free market? “Because on the beach concessions, as well as on the hydroelectric concessions, we hurt ourselves. As Italy we have been self-harming”, says the Tuscan parliamentarian. “Neither of the two subjects was included in the Pnrr, it was we who brought it back into the competition bill at the time of the Draghi government”. And why would it be considered a mistake? “Because those rules in the hydroelectric sector have allowed for example German companies to acquire concessions from us, but not vice versa. We are the only country that has auctioned concessions”. And what does this have to do with bathing establishments? “Well in that case it’s even worse because in addition to the lack of reciprocity there is also a problem of equivalence: unless we consider the Danish coasts on a par with the Italian ones”, reasons Zucconi.

The fact is that Europe is now demanding an account for the non-application of the Bolkestein directive, a problem that our country has been postponing for 13 years now, and continues to postpone even with the new government, which inserted the last postponement in the Milleproroghe, then rejected by a new pronouncement of the State Council. Should we continue to ignore it? “Absolutely not. On the contrary, I say that European officials are absolutely right in saying that we cannot continue to postpone the question”, reasoned Zucconi in an interview with Il Foglio. “But we can arrive at a shared solution with Europe by making our own proposals. First of all by demonstrating, as the Bolkestein directive itself requires in article 12, that beach concessions in Italy are not a scarce good. a mapping that eventually makes us put all the new concessions out to tender”. And for all the others, what about? “A solution could be the one proposed by the Fratelli d’Italia group as early as 2018, with my first signature. Meloni, Lollobrigida, Rampelli, all the big names signed it,” says Zucconi. “Since it is necessary to comply with Bolkestein, we can envisage putting all the concessions out to tender from its entry into force, in 2010. While for the previous ones, which are the majority, extensions can be envisaged according to a logic of legitimate expectation“.

The pronouncements of the Council of State were the address which the President of the Republic Sergio Mattarella also asked to comply with. Even if, according to Zucconi, “those sentences, for any juridical purpose, are blasphemy. The Council of State performs both a jurisdictional and advisory function to the government, but it cannot replace the legislator”. And yet the infringement procedures to which Italy is subject by Brussels would advise against carrying on tug-of-war with Europe. “And in fact we have to do the work. The first deadline is July 27, when the implementing decrees of the competition bill introduced by Draghi will have to be converted. I know the government is working on it, but lately it has been taken over by more urgent issues” , is the consideration of the Melon exponent.

But in short, don’t you still have the impression of defending a last incrustation of power? “I believe – analyzes Zucconi – that the seaside resorts have been the subject of a bad press campaign. The question is serious, let’s face it, but not with gut reactions. Because the Italians must know that if you destroy a sector made up of over 30 thousand families the sunbeds, the umbrellas, will cost even more. I agree with imposing public beaches every few meters of coastline, but we must know that this will entail a burden for the municipalities in terms of safety and cleanliness”. Did he see that even Flavio Briatore interviewed by Corriere said that the dealers pay too low a fee to the state? “I have the utmost respect for the entrepreneur Briatore, but not all establishments are the Twiga. If there are any mistakes, let’s correct them, but let me remind you that this is the first government that has raised rents by 25% in 13 years. If everyone agreed, why didn’t anyone think of it before?“.