The first day of the “household basket” demonstrated that the consumer remains unprotected, not only in the face of ever-increasing price explosion, but also in the face of the perennial weakness of any government interventions that seek to curtail the problem. The Union of Consumer Workers of Greece conducted a survey on the “e-katanalotis” website, in which the national super market chains and other grocery trading chains were required, until 9 am on Wednesday 02/11/2022, to upload a list of the products belonging to the 51 categories as determined by the decision of the Ministry of Development. Its results were indicative of the conclusion we mentioned at the beginning of the Press Release. Specifically:

1. Some of the 13 trading chains that registered products on the “e-katanalotis” platform, have not sent a complete list of them, that is, they do not cover all the categories as described in the law. We point out that the incomplete list incurs a fine of €5,000 for each day of non-compliance with this obligation.
2. Despite the publicity in the morning by the Deputy Minister of Development and Investments, Mr. Papathanasis, that “20-40% of the products are private label products”, nevertheless there are chains that include private label products at a rate of approximately 80% of the total.
3. In some of the chains, the same product has been registered from 2 to eleven (11) times. The result is a fictitious increase in the number of products, which makes the whole venture unprofitable for the consumer.
4. It was found that some chains have registered products in other product categories, thus misleading the consumer (as well as the Ministry). For example, it was found that e.g. in the product category “poultry” orange juice has been registered, in the product category “flour” cat food pate, has been registered or in the category “fresh milk” fried pork has been registered. It should be noted that the registration on the e-katanalotis website, which is managed by the General Secretariat of Trade and Consumer Protection, is the responsibility of the service itself, in terms of the accuracy of the information it contains (at least in its technical part), an accuracy which, obviously, does not met the required scrutiny leading to consumer confusion.

Furthermore, we found once again that food and grocery products inflation  is not treated with ineffective measures, as in this case. As an example, we mention the case of a chain that includes kitchen roll at the price of €2.65, while the same product in April 2022 cost €1.89 (a 40% increase), personal hygiene items increased in price by 23% in the same period of time, while in food items, such as spaghetti, the price increased from €0.74 to €1.26. There was also a difference in prices between the supermarket chains in coffee where the difference reaches up to €1.58. At the same time, it is noted that in most products the product content has been reduced from 11% to 30%.

We repeat that, for us, it is a primary and immediate need for the State to take immediate, substantial measures to deal with the gloomy situation before us. So we suggest:

1. Suspension of the Energy Exchange mechanism
2. Promotion of all types of energy (e.g. hydrogen, geothermal, etc.) without prejudice and prioritizations
3. Empowering vulnerable consumers through priority pricing of energy sources with lower production costs
4. Reduction of VAT on basic food items
5. Reduction of the Excise Tax on heating oil
6. An increase in the minimum wage and the restoration of the right to collective bargaining that will spread this increase to all sectors of the economy, with the aim of increasing the disposable income of worker-consumers.