Five more multinational consumer product groups circulating in the Greek market are being audited by DIMEA, in order to establish whether the legislation preventing unfair profiteering is being followed.

This revelation was made by the Minister of Development & Investments Konstantinos Skrekas, in the Production and Trade Committee of the Parliament where the draft law “Incorporation of Directive (EU) 2021/2101 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 24 November 2021 to amend the Directive ( EU) 2013/34 regarding the publication of income tax data by certain companies and branches – Update of national legislation on companies’ publicity obligations and other urgent provisions”.

The minister mentioned in particular that it is not only the two multinationals that were fined that are controlled by DIMEA, for unfair profiteering, but the control is also ongoing for other multinational groups with consumer products in the Greek market.

“We imposed the maximum fine for unfair profiteering on two multinational companies. We also control the rest of the large multinational companies in Greece. From the fines of the summer, which we levied, either for misleading discounts or now those we levied for unfair profiteering, part of those fines we will allocate, to support the consumer organizations, to help us and to assist the work of our government, to reduce shelf prices and tackle inflation,” said the Minister of Development and Investment.

Mr. Skrekas sent a stern message that checks will continue as well as the imposition of fines. The collection of part of these fines will support the consumer organizations, in order to continue to assist the work of combating the phenomena of profiteering.

The committee member MPs were informed by the Minister of Development and Investments that every day more and more companies are submitting price lists to the competent services of the ministry, for a 5% price reduction for six months.

Mr. Skrekas addressed the opposition parties, who accuse the government of reluctance to take drastic measures, and invited them to answer if they know of another country in Europe that has fined a company for unfair profiteering. “Tell me a country that passed a law. We want businesses to be profitable. We want professionals to make money. We want this money to be reinvested. We want big business to come and invest and create high-paying jobs. We want this, and we achieve it according to the figures that are announced every year. The country in 2022 had a 57% increase in foreign direct investment, compared to 2021, when in Europe only 1% increase in foreign direct investment was shown. So we prove that we have created an investor-friendly environment”, said Mr. Skrekas and underlined:

“Of course we want foreign investment and we also want domestic investment. But everyone must obey the law. The Greek government is the only one that passed a law in Parliament and put ceiling on the profit margin. We defined it by saying that today when we have this crisis, the inflationary crisis, the profit margin, the profit rate cannot be greater than it was in 2021, before the precision, the inflationary crisis started. It’s an emergency measure, it’s true. It is not a permanent measure. But this law is what enables us today to impose fines.”

Mr. Skrekas said that Greece is the only country that has asked companies to reduce prices and they are doing so. “He asked for it in France, the French President, the companies refused. It is requested, for three months of price stabilization, 500 products, in Italy Meloni, no one follows. We checked the companies. We told them, “you have the ability to lower the prices on the shelves. And in fact, if you do this, we will reward the products and place a special sign”, said the Minister of Development and Investments and informed the parliamentary committee that today, when he visited a large chain supermarket, Sclavenitis, 100 tabs on various products. As he mentioned, more than 500 codes have been notified to the competent services of the ministry.

“Today, we exceeded the goal we had set, at least 500 products to consistently reduce, for at least 6 months and for at least 5%, the prices on the shelves. This reduction is above and beyond the discount of 1 plus 1 or 2 plus 1. Today when I visited the store I saw all purpose flour which is two plus one gifts and on top of that 5% off and some above. So this initiative of the government is taking place. The consumer sees in the tabs which products have reduced prices. What other country has done this? None. We designed it, implemented it and now it is being implemented and we will exceed 500 codes”, said the Minister of Development and Investments and added that every day all the companies come forward and send reduced price lists.

Mr. Skrekas sent a message that the checks will continue. “An additional five multinationals are being checked. We certainly hope we find no violations of the law. We do not want to impose fines. We want companies to follow the law. But if they violate the law, the fine will be applied and announced, as stipulated by the law we passed,” said the Minister of Development.

In relation to the content of the Directive that Parliament is asked to ratify, the Minister of Development said: “We have subsidiaries in Greece or branches of large multinational companies. If it has a turnover of more than 8 million and more than 40 employees, it will be obliged to announce not only its own tax results and financial results but also that of the parent company, whether it is based in another European country or is based in a third country, outside EU. This is determined by the incorporation of the Directive which stipulates that information related to income taxation must be announced, the name of the final parent company, the description of the nature of the activities of the parent company, the number of employees in total, not only that of the subsidiary but also of the parent company, the revenues, the sum of turnover, the amount of profits or losses before tax. All this helps with transparency. And all this also helps to deal with inflation. Since the passing of the law, they will have to announce not only the results of the subsidiary but also of the parent company. Consumers will see which businesses respect their customers, respect consumers.”