Hallissey (+Europe): "The umbrella crisis is real. It's bipartisan: everyone's turned a blind eye."

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The beach umbrella crisis is real . The industry admits it, and photos of deserted beaches in the middle of August on social media suggest so . Matteo Hallissey , president of +Europa since February, confirms it too. He spent the entire summer touring some of the country's most popular beaches with an orange beach umbrella planted in the sand of some establishments whose concessions had expired. " The umbrellas are empty, it's true . People are fed up. The Bolkestein directive has existed for years and no one has managed to implement it. The right is clearly to blame; it has always defended this lobby, but the left is also complicit . It's a bit funny to hear some members of the broad camp talk about the unsustainable situation on the beaches, talking about wages and the middle class, when for years they governed without intervening ."

But who's to blame for this situation?

" Like taxi drivers, beach resort owners are actually harming themselves by refusing competition. And they make themselves hated by the citizens . The responsibility doesn't lie, as the owner of the Papeete says , with the euro or the left. It lies with the beach resort owners." Hallissey is referring to the interview, given to Il Foglio, in which Massimo Casanova places the blame for the umbrella crisis on the single currency and previous governments. There's an unfinished business between the two: for two years, the president of +Europa has been visiting the beach resort that's been at the center of the yellow-green government crisis, and this year he sent a formal notice to the municipality of Cervia, requesting a tender. “At Papeete, a year ago, we saw the madness of extremely low rents . With less than €1,000 a month, they have enormous revenues. The average in Italy is: for every €100 in revenue, €1 in rent goes to the state. Less than €100 million goes to the public coffers from Italian beaches. Last year, Casanova reported me, this year we asked the municipality of Cervia to hold tenders as a party interested in participating. We want to manage Papeete.”

It must be admitted that the idea of a Papeete run by radicals is intriguing. "Lido Parolaccia" (swear word), with the lifeguard who, while saving you, invites you to sign a petition for the Right to Know, cool bags, free joints, and the echoes of old episodes of Stampa e Regime from the bar counter, breaking the monotony of the various "Sesso e Samba" shows at other establishments. Just a Pannellian fantasy, of course, even though the historic leader of the Radical Party had asked to become mayor of Ostia in 1992 in exchange for supporting the Amato government. So he administered the Roman coastline for 100 days, calling in the army to ensure the demolition of several illegal buildings and pedestrianizing the promenade, which sparked protests from beach owners and business owners. They must have retained their undiminished affection for the radicals now that Hallissey is demanding tenders be issued on their beaches. In the next few hours, we'll be issuing the same formal notices to dozens of Italian municipalities to announce the tenders. We've been to Ostia, Anzio, Pomezia, Alassio in Liguria, and Mondello, where most of the resorts have a company that's been there since 1909. To make as much money as possible before the tenders are announced, the beach owners have raised prices. But it's backfired. In Mondello, we saw people crowded together behind the illegal turnstiles, extremely angry, and the beach empty.

And yesterday's news broke that in Sicily, following the Mondello incident, the Region has ordered the removal of turnstiles and barriers along beaches. The circular, signed by Environment Councilor Giusi Savarino , calls for "a ban on new permits for shoreline fences, a ban on turnstiles," and "an evaluation of the revocation of existing permits." The councilor also announced checks and inspections throughout the region.

"There are people who want to go to the beach, the problem is that they're kept out of the beach resorts and their fences," Hallissey concludes. "Last year, there were many more people; there was a ghostly atmosphere; sometimes we thought we'd come to the wrong place. People are choosing not to go to those beaches anymore, perhaps opting for the public beach, the few there are. We've seen a lot of resignation, little desire to continue funding this category."

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