(Bloomberg) -- The European Union’s executive urged Italy’s government to act after the bloc’s top court ordered the administration to open up the lucrative running of thousands of beaches to competition.

A spokesperson for the European Commission told reporters Thursday that a “reasoned opinion” on the matter has been sent to Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s administration, The commission’s preference “is always to find an agreement with the member states, rather than going to court,” the spokesperson added.

Italy’s government has two months to respond. The letter is the latest step in a saga between Brussels and Rome that dates back to 2006, when a new directive on competition was approved that would affect about 30,000 beach operators across Italy.

The EU’s top court ordered Meloni’s administration in April to open up the running of thousands of beaches to competition, after licenses worth billions of euros in revenue were doled out for years without fair tendering processes.

Even if the EU framework requires regular and competitive public tenders to assign the lucrative licenses, successive Italian governments have resisted opening the market due to the strong lobbying effort by current beach operators who argue that allowing public tenders would drive them out of business and put jobs at risk. 

--With assistance from Kevin Whitelaw.

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