The market is on sale until the end of February, and the shops tomorrow, Sunday 14 January, will be open with suggested opening hours for the smaller shops from 11 am. until 6 p.m. and for chain stores and department stores from 11 a.m. until 8 p.m.

The commercial world urges the consumer public to take advantage of the high quantities of discounts while as stated in APE-MPE the president of the Piraeus Chamber of Commerce and Industry Vassilis Korkidis: “What is certain is that the intensity and duration of precision is difficult to deal with, since it depends on costs and production conditions, competition, supply and demand, pricing strategies, taxation and imports from multinationals, which are difficult to control, since they concentrate the supply of necessary consumer goods in the EU. However, the government has once again demonstrated that it is trying to stand by society as a whole, supporting the market, given the cyclical nature of the economy with measured measures, as its primary concern remains the defense of households and businesses. The point is that the “multi-level prices” of the multinationals do not have “discrepancies” on the Greek shelves compared to other European countries. I hope DIMEA controls and stiff fines will stop the unfair profiteering and prevent misleading offers.

We suggest, however, that the regular winter sales should be extended to the food business sector with a larger participation of supermarkets to defeat, all together, punctuality and curb inflation in our country by one unit.”

The importance of the reaction of consumers themselves

Although accuracy is listed as the main problem for citizens, according to an EU survey, the Greek consumer is among the worst informed on rights issues.

“Consumer education is needed” has stated Panagiota Kalapotharakou, president of the Quality of Life Consumers Union-EKPOIZOwhile underlining that in our country there is a lack of a robust consumer-citizen movement, although consumer associations have achieved important individual victories on issues related to over-indebtedness, bank fees, interest rates, energy bills, telecommunications, e-commerce etc.

At the same time, the Competition Commission has emphasized that consumers themselves now have the possibility to file compensation lawsuits for violations of competition provisions.

It is noted that, these days, the institutional framework for the exercise of the right to collective actions (representative actions) by consumer organizations is being completed. In particular, it is foreseen that the General Secretariat of Trade of the Ministry of Development maintains the Register of Consumer Associations (MEK) and the ministry proceeds with a new, scrutinizing check regarding consumer associations in order to establish that they are not just “stamps” and are legalized to proceed with collective actions .

In the meantime, it is recalled that the General Federation of Consumers of Greece organizes for January 17, a protest rally outside the Ministry of Development, in Kaningos Square, “in order to send a message against accuracy and profiteering”