For accuracy that plagues society, the Minister of Development spoke on Tuesday morning (7/11), Kostas Skrekas. As he pointed out, the government is pushing to reduce the prices on the shelves as much as possible while he noted “we have no hesitation in imposing fines on anyone who violates the law.”
Speaking on the Mega show “Socionia houra MEGA” with Anthi Voulgari and Iordanis Hasapopoulos, Kostas Skrekas said: “The fines we imposed in the summer were collected over a period of 20 days so that the offending companies also received the discount. As for the €2 million fines, one million for each company that violated the Unfair Profit Act, one company will pay the fine and then appeal. The fines are collected and I must tell you that of the 7.5 million fines that have been imposed during the year, 4.5 have been confirmed or paid to the tax office. The point is not only to collect the fines, the goal is not to harm the companies.”
“The goal is for businesses to adapt to the dictates of the law passed by our government on unfair profiteering and for households to see the prices of products decrease on the shelves,” he announced.
“We want to achieve a low price for households every day”
“According to the data we have, the Greek market is significantly cheaper than the French market. But I will tell you why you might see products that are cheaper on a shelf Super Market abroad in relation to Greece” said Kostas Skrekas.
Referring to the research data presented earlier, the competent minister explained: “First, average prices are not taken into account here. In Greece, deodorants are most often promotional. So, on the one hand, this gives the consumer the feeling that he is shopping for something at a discount and attracts him to buy it, but on the other hand, this also involves a degree of misleading the consumer, because the permanent price on the shelf should be significantly lower, i.e. the permanent value. We want to achieve a low price for households every day. That’s why we launched the 5% permanent price reduction initiative.”
“From Monday, checks will begin in supermarkets to see if the permanent price reduction signs have been placed”
Referring to the signs that should be placed in supermarkets and the criticism that is heard that they have not been placed in enough supermarkets, the minister revealed: “From Monday DIMEA will start checks in the supermarket stores to find out if the permanent reduction signs have been placed price as due or not. Otherwise the fine will be heavy. We carry out checks all the time and compare the profit margin that companies have in 2023 compared to 2021. If we see that they are making more profit compared to 2021 we come and impose a fine. The fine is calculated as follows: we double the difference of the extra profit.”
“Already 629 product codes in supermarkets they have a permanent price reduction” he underlined.
Regarding the observed price increase, Mr. Skrekas commented: “The price increase did not come solely from greed. The increase in prices in the previous two years happened because we had objective conditions, for example we had a war – now we have a second war – and there was also an energy crisis. Prices have decreased, durum wheat has gone to 28 cents from 32 cents, i.e. “fell” by 4 cents. the prices of bread and toast in supermarkets have been reduced.”
“We are pushing for them to be reduced as much as possible prices on the shelves, we have controls for unfair profiteering, we impose fines and prices are corrected, we have the “permanent price reduction” initiative and we also have the household basket that is renewed every week, he said.
Kostas Skrekas also commented on the report that the show presented yesterday about her oil pricewhere it is expected to reach 23-25 euros per liter.
“This year the production of oil in Greece and for the second year in Spain, Portugal and other countries that produce olive oil had an extremely reduced production due to the weather conditions and this is pushing up the prices. Today, therefore, foreign traders come here and there is an auction in essence to buy oil from the producer,” he said.
“The checks are not going to stop”
Regarding the fines and the checks, Kostas Skrekas said: “Another six multinational companies are being checked and the checks are not going to stop. We will have no hesitation in fining anyone who violates the law. We don’t want to harm companies, we want to be a liberal government that respects the laws of the state.”
