In an interview with Mega TV, the minister announced that the maximum fines for violations of the price control measures are being tripled, adding that he has asked the Competition Commission to give priority to the inspections of multinationals. More specifically, they have been asked to examine to what extent they price their products more expensively in our country.
Theodorikakos referred to the three lines of approach for the de-escalation of prices, which the government is following.
The first one concerns information to consumers as an informed consumer has a lot of power. He focused on the e-katanalotis platform where citizens can see and compare the prices of more than 3,000 products in all supermarkets. “We need to strengthen the consumer awareness of us all,” he pointed out.
The second line of action concerns the state, the inspections to ensure compliance with the measures, with an emphasis on the fact that supermarkets cannot sell with a profit greater than that they had on December 31, 2021, as well as the ban on offers on products that have been repriced.
“Today the maximum fines increase from 2 million euros to 6 million euros. No one should think that he can break the law,” the minister stated. He also spoke about strengthening controls by hiring additional staff for inspection authorities and the overall reorganisation of the control mechanism, both at the central level and in the regions.
The three-line approach, Theodorikakos said, is completed with the cooperation of everyone, the state, citizens, consumer organisations, independent authorities, with healthy entrepreneurship.
Having almost completed the cycle of contacts with market representatives, he expressed moderate optimism that the supermarket companies will respond positively. “I believe that this summer food inflation will decelerate substantially,” he estimated.
