From the Bolkestein directive to the arrival of big brands on Italian beaches: how liberalization risks transforming the sea into an asset for the few.
For years the managers of the bathing establishments they were demonized. Ridiculed. Put in the pillory. Newspapers and news have described our beloved Mario’s bathrooms or Lino’s bathrooms as leeches, inveterate profiteers, semi-abusives of the almost free shoreline. And they told us that therefore it was necessary to expropriate them without ifs or buts, it was necessary to take away their family businesses, even if they were built over years of sand and sweat. Some of us tried to object: but if they pay little, why don’t we simply raise the price of the concession? Nothing to do: always the same refrain for years. Those concessions must be removed, the tenders must be redone, liberalization is needed. Here is the magic word: liberalization. So theEuropean Union he imposed the Bolkesteinwhich rhymes with Frankenstein, but which was sold as if it were the marvel of modernity. The one that would lead us to a fairer, freer, more beautiful, more convenient world for everyone. They repeated it so many times on single networks that in the end almost everyone was convinced of it.
We don’t. We were among the few to always defend the beach resorts. We have always seen something beautiful and truly Italian behind family-run establishments. We have always thought that that passing of the baton, from father to son, from generation to generation, that building of consolidated relationships with customers over time, was an asset to be preserved (by making them pay the right amount, obviously), not an obstacle to be removed. And we have always wondered if that can-can with unified networks on liberalizations in the sauce of Bolkestein it wasn’t actually just an excuse to take factories away from poor people and give them to large groups. We have always wondered if behind all that love for the free market there wasn’t actually the desire to introduce a nice monopoly. Obviously for the benefit of the rich.
From the defense of Made in Italy to the first results of the tenders on the Riviera
No, they told us. Imagine that, they replied. Indeed, they defined our suspicion, that is, the risk of the arrival of large groups, as a «hoax introduced into the information circuit to plagiarize public opinion which, however, by now, has learned to fully understand the all-Italian shame, which certainly characterizes our made in Italy». Textual. A hoax. To plagiarize. To defend a shame. Shame, so to speak, would be i Pink Bathrooms or the factory The Little Mermaid where generations of children played with bucket and spade, while the adults ate spaghetti with seafood in the little bar under the canopy, without anyone realizing they were participating in the destruction of made in Italy.
Why am I telling you all this? Because we are in the middle of summer and many of you are about to go or have just gone on holiday. Well: you should know that we have arrived. The tenders have started. The long-awaited revolution has begun. Long live it Bolkesteinlong live theEuropean Union. The first results can already be seen. I read from Press (one of those mainstream newspapers always in favor of liberalisation): «The race for the liberalization desired by the EU, but luxury is making its way on the Riviera». Occhiello: «Tenders unleash the appetites of large groups. This way, high standards (and prices) win.” But is it okay? Really? Do large groups win? And their appetites? And so prices go up? Who would have thought, huh?
The entry of multinationals and the transformation of Italian beaches
In reality it wasn’t difficult to predict what is happening: away from family management, the big names are arriving on the beach. So now there is the designer factory Dolce&Gabbanathe one with license plate Waspthere is society Sepm100% owned by Principality of Monacothere are the large groups of the best national and multinational entrepreneurs, from Wave to Blue Lionthere are giants and colossi. Nothing but hoax. Nothing but plagiarized public opinion. Once again theEU he does not deny himself: he cloaks in wonderful words (liberalization, the market…) what in reality is the usual favor for the rich. Obviously on the skin of the poor souls.
And be careful: the poor souls in question are not just the managers of family-run bathing establishments who will find themselves replaced one after the other by the “appetites” of large groups and multinationals. The poor souls are all of us because the “appetites” of large groups bring with them the transformation of the establishments into oases of luxury with umbrellas at 500 euros a day and associated bloodletting. This is the result of the revolution. As always: the state’s revenues do not increase, the revenues of the multinationals increase. At our expense, of course. Therefore I wrote this article while you are or are going to the seaside: if you feel like you have paid too much for an umbrella and sunbed, well know that it will get worse and worse. And thank theEU.
