Italy’s sunbed cartel to go on strike over EU rules

“For years, Italians have had to pay a small fortune for umbrellas and sunbeds. They often encounter gates that deny access to the beaches,” said Riccardo Magi, an MP with the +Europa (More Europe) party.

Italian holidaymakers are “hostage to those who want to benefit forever from concessions that have now expired and which should be put up for auction,” he said.

When a small group of politicians from the Left-wing Radicals Party held a protest at a beach near Rome recently, entering a beach club but refusing to pay for the privilege of sitting on the sand, they were met with a furious response. Staff from the club verbally abused them and were physically threatening.

‘Treated as private property’

“It’s not right that beaches, which should be accessible to everybody, are treated as though they were private property by the operators,” Matteo Hallissey, the head of the Radicals, told The Telegraph.

“The situation has been like this for 80 years,” he added. “Other countries in the EU make sure that these concessions are put up for auction in a transparent and open way. But not Italy.

“We’re the only country that has not put them out to tender. Instead, successive governments have extended the concessions year after year.”

Many beach clubs pay as little as €8,000 (£6,800) a year for the lease on the sand they occupy “and yet they make millions in revenue,” said Mr Hallissey, who has a British father and an Italian mother.

Free and fair bidding process

Beach club owners are up against not just the Italian government but the EU. Under a law called the Bolkestein directive, Brussels has been pushing for years for the sector to be opened up and for concessions to be reallocated through a free and fair bidding process.

Four years ago, the European Commission opened infringement procedures against Rome after the government at the time passed a law which extended the beach concessions until 2033.

A subsequent government, led by Mario Draghi, the technocrat prime minister and former president of the European Central Bank, vowed to end the concessions and put them out to tender, but his administration collapsed before the measures could be implemented.

A ‘Wild West’ scenario

Ms Meloni, who was elected in 2022, extended the concessions until the end of this year, when they are due to be opened up to bidders from the rest of the EU.

Beach club owners say that will unleash a “Wild West” scenario in which decades of hard work will count for nothing and jobs will be lost.

Antonio Capacchione, the president of the Italian Union of Beach Operators, is calling for the government to pass a law that would affirm all the beach concessions and guarantee “certainty” to the entire sector.

“We’re the Florida of Europe – our beaches draw tourists from Britain, Germany, France, all over. But right now, it’s chaos,” Mr Capacchione told The Telegraph.

“Imagine if you are a beach club owner who 20 years ago sank his life savings into the business. You trusted the government’s assurances that concessions would be renewed. Now, suddenly, the government is saying ‘I’m sorry, you made a mistake’. We deserve more respect.”

Italian beach clubs offer the highest level of comfort in all of Europe, he claims. “They provide services, and for that customers have to pay.”

Italy’s battle of the beaches is unlikely to end anytime soon.

Mr Hallissey warned: “The beach club operators have the support of Right-wing parties in the coalition, especially The League. They’re an important source of votes. It’s a very strong lobby.”