Italian beach managers make waves over EU competition law rollout

Italy’s beach managers, or “balneari”, folded up their banana loungers and closed their umbrellas for two hours on Friday in protest at a new licensing law.

Italy’s coveted private beach licenses allow proprietors to seal off prized seafront space and rent out areas for sun loungers and beach umbrellas. These permits have been typically handed down through families and monopolised for generations — until now.

Starting early next year, under a law passed by Rome in compliance with EU regulations, beach club proprietors will have to apply for permits via new tender processes.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has faced mounting pressure to create a fairer playing field for the tightly-controlled beach real estate market since the EU’s top court ruled in 2023 that licences should not be automatically renewed.

The European Court of Justice ruled that Rome must comply with decades-old EU legislation, also known as the Bolkestein Directive, which aims to remove barriers to the bloc’s trade and services while increasing transparency.

Previous governments have dragged their feet on implementing the process, but Brussels has demonstrated it is keen to apply pressure — and ready to hand out fines — to liberalise Italy’s seafronts.

The directive covers everything from the construction sector to the tourism industry, including Italy’s privatised beaches, a stretch of highly profitable sand occupying 50% of the country’s coastline, according to the Italian environmental association Legambiente.

Valentina Fabbri is the president of Italian hospitality advocacy organisation Ostia Fiumicino Confesercenti. She said 30,000 businesses and workers will be left in the lurch by the new system, which only guarantees year-long licenses.

“We are asking the government for a concrete, practical commitment,” she said.

Speaking on Ostia beach near Rome, Fabri addded that business owners who have invested on these shorelines for generations also deserve reimbursement.

Ruggero Barbadoro, President of Rome’s Confesercenti Fiba — a confederation representing commercial, tourist and service operators in the bathing sector — said the recent legislative shift had caused “problems” that spurred on the nationwide protest.

“Closing the umbrella until 9:30am is symbolic,” he said.

“But the real protest is that no one is giving us a chance to be able to renew the concessions and work and see a future [and] guarantee us a future.”

Beachgoers are sympathetic to the concerns of the balneari, with one at Ostia describing the protest as “very fair”.

Another argued the protest is “legitimate” because business owners have had their legs “cut off” by the new laws, which not only impact them but have a knock-on effect on lifeguards, cleaners and other seasonal employees.