By Penelope Galliou

A message of zero tolerance to profiteering and those who take advantage of the current international conditions to maximize their profits against consumers, the government is sending in practice now, making it clear that such practices will be publicized and punished.

In this tactic of hers government it also includes the imposition of a “steep” fine of a total of 2 million euros on two well-known multinationals with a large commercial share in the Greek market, which were found to have violated the law on the ceiling on the profit margin in detergents and hygiene products.

The message to crack down on profiteering was clearly and strictly formulated by him Kyriakos Mitsotakisduring the recent interview he gave on ANT1 TV, where he warned that he will not tolerate any kind of profiteering “You will wait to see a little bit, and I want to send a message from your frequency to the multinationals, the big multinationals, that if they think that Greece is no banana in which they can sell the same products at much more expensive prices, without justifying to us the increase in costs, they are in deep trouble” said the prime minister and added meaningfully “If we have to deal with multinational giants we will we do, because they essentially sell the same products in other markets. Be patient and you will see exactly what I mean,” Mr. Mitsotakis said.

For the government, as it has been repeatedly stated, the daily lives of citizens are among its main priorities and accuracy is its number one enemy at the moment, as it squeezes every household and every consumer who sees their income evaporated by increased taxes. prices faced in the market. Government sources they commented that it is not possible to tolerate tactics and policies in the market that tend to nullify all the efforts made by the government to deal with the accuracy, with the measures it repeatedly takes and reinforces, for the relief of the citizens. In this light, they declare that the government will not show the slightest leniency in the phenomena of speculation but will throw all its forces even more intensively into the suppression of these phenomena. “We will not allow the inflation of greed” emphatically stated the Minister of Development, Kostas Skrekas, while the government’s determination is also reflected in the weight given to intensive controls, which are one of the axes of the government’s tripartite together with the increase of incomes and targeted interventions.

DIMEA’s audit “crosshairs” are directed in all directions, as advertised and it is determined to put under the microscope any practice that creates distorted conditions in the market and favors profiteering at the expense of Greek consumers. However, based on the relevant data cited by government sources, the tactic of fines yields not only revenue to the public treasury, which reached 8 million euros from the beginning of 2023, but at the same time a reduction of up to 25% was subsequently observed in the corresponding codes, through of which the companies in question profited. “Phenomena of unfair profiteering will not be tolerated… No one is above the law. No one can and will not speculate at the expense of the citizens and the Greek economy,” the government representative explained in every direction, referring to the checks for accuracy and to the fines so far submitted, showing the clear intentions of Megaros Maximus.

A parallel battle with accuracy is also being fought on the energy front, with the government adding to its quiver the new measures from 1/1/2024 for the heating allowance and concern 1.2 million vulnerable households that use electricity as a source of heating and they will see a discount of 45 to 480 euros on their bills in the January – March quarter.