By Penelope Galliou

With the “right” the government expects March to start and evolve in the field of accuracy, yielding the results of the fight it gives, both through the targeted measures it takes and the long-term interventions to support citizens’ disposable income. The message of de-escalation of prices on the shelves and an extra breath for households plagued by high market prices was broadcast by the Prime Minister himself from the floor of the Council of Ministers.

“The first messages are encouraging and we expect the initial prices of more than 1,500 products to be reduced from the beginning of March and obviously the final prices will be determined based on these initials,” said the Kyriakos Mitsotakis during suggestive placement at Cabinetreferring, among other things, to interventions against accuracy.

At a time when inflation, especially in the food sector, is resisting, causing “suffocation” in many households, the government insists on interventions and measures to curb it, dragging down the prices on the shelves. In this context, the government has already set a limit to the profit of the companies in baby milk, where the increases were high and unjustified, while at the same time the supplies of the suppliers to the supermarkets are limited by 30%, so that this difference can be passed on as a benefit to the consumer. Interventions, the results of which are expected to be reflected gradually in the market and by extension in the consumer’s pocket.

It is a double battle, as described by Kyriakos Mitsotakis, which aims “On the one hand, permanent increases in wages and pensions” with the next Council of Ministers, within March, promoting the new increase in the minimum wage for in 2024 and with application from on April 1st. Measures that are part of the permanent interventions to support disposable income and nominal wages, and which are “an effective response to the wave of precision that has been plaguing us for two years” as he said.

On the other hand, targeted measures are also deemed necessary by the government, which respond to current needs and as noted by the Prime Minister “That is why we do not underestimate timeless distortions in the way the market operates. Our interventions at this level are truly timeless and I believe that we will soon have very encouraging results”.

The prime minister emphasized the implementation of what is voted, saying addressing his ministers that we must be firmly committed to the economy and increasing disposable income in health and safety.

Measures against punctuality

The Minister of Development, Konstantinos Skrekas, who was the first Minister to take the floor at the meeting of the Council of Ministers, analyzed in the Council of Ministers the course of implementation of the anti-punctuality measures that have already been legislated and are already showing their first results and presented the Bill to improve the functioning of the market and enhance growth.

The aim of the Ministry of Development’s bill is to improve the possibilities of the investment activities of the industry, to improve the application of development laws for the more effective contribution of their financing to entrepreneurship, to deal with procedural issues of high importance concerning consumer associations and to combat fictitious discounts.

Among other things, the provisions of the bill change the period of time during which merchants are allowed to quote as the original price, the price of the product before the start of the discount period from thirty days to sixty days.

The possibility of Interdepartmental Market Control Unit to jointly exercise with the General Directorate of Market and Consumer Protection the control of the implementation of the provisions on misleading discounts.

In addition, the competence of the General Directorate of Market and Consumer Protection for the registration, maintenance or deletion of consumer associations from the Register of Consumer Associations is determined.

Finally, the implementation of a program for certifying the competence of employees in the field of public contracts is foreseen, by virtue of a relevant Memorandum of Cooperation concluded with the National Center for Public Administration and Self-Government.