Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has outlined in a letter to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen the measures proposed by the Greek government to protect consumers from the disproportionate influence of multinational corporations in their pricing strategies across EU member states.
The prime minister’s letter comes amidst the ongoing inflationary crisis across Europe, which has highlighted significant issues in the market for essential consumer goods, particularly affecting those with lower purchasing power.
Consumers in Greece and several other EU nations, including the Netherlands, Belgium, Croatia, Denmark, Luxembourg, and Slovakia, have expressed concerns over the disproportionately high prices of branded products from multinational corporations compared to other EU countries.
One contributing factor to this price disparity is the imposition of Territorial Supply Constraints (TSCs) by these corporations, exploiting their dominant market position, especially in smaller markets. This practice results in unjustified price gaps for basic consumer goods.
To address these issues, Mitsotakis proposes legislative action at the EU level to effectively tackle the policy of Territorial Supply Constraints (TSC), where not justified by objective factors.
Additionally, he suggests prohibiting unfair commercial practices between suppliers and retailers, particularly those hindering parallel trade and cross-border passive sales.
Furthermore, Mitsotakis advocates for the removal of linguistic restrictions on the labeling of essential consumer products, aiming to facilitate arbitration through parallel trade and explore the benefits and drawbacks of multilingual digital labeling.
Finally, the Prime Minister calls for measures to prevent certain multinational corporations from offering identical or similar consumer products under different brands in various member states, enabling them to apply differential pricing based on their market dominance in each country.
