Bitter Christmas for Italian ports, government forgets about them

There is everything in the maxi amendment attached to the financial bill, but nothing good for Italian ports. Despite the government’s promises, when all was said and done, the parliamentary amendment that was supposed to put a stop to 25 marinas’ disputes with the state was not included in the government’s maxi amendment voted on in the Senate. And to think that the “cousins” of beach establishments have had, in defiance of the European law prohibiting the extension of state concessions along the Italian coast, as many as 15 years of extension of their “contract.”

The state’s litigation with the 25 private port facilities concerns a request for retroactive increases of up to 400 percent in state fees set in 2006. In the absence of a specific rule to no avail were the rulings of the Council of State and that of the Constitutional Court, which ruled that fees can be increased, but not retroactively. The state court’s ruling was clear: “The new state fees result applicable only to works that already belong to the state, while for concessions of works carried out by the concessionaire, this can be done only at the end of the concession, and not already during the concession.”

What can happen now? The case of Rimini’s Marina Blu, which was served a 1.1 million euro tax bill, blocking all its current accounts by the Internal Revenue Service, represents the risk faced by the 24 other marinas in litigation with the state.

The damage is ultimately likely to be done by boaters. The hope is that the usual demagogic and populist campaign will not restart. Do you remember the slogan: He who goes boating is bound to be rich and therefore can pay even what is not right and lawful?