Today it takes place at Maximos Palace the crucial meeting to be precise, under the prime minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis. The aim is to form a common framework with the marketwhich will lead to price reductions in basic goods.
As reported yesterday by “K”those who are asked to contribute to the agreement are not society as a whole, but the market, which is essentially being asked to “give up” part of its income and profits through price reductions in basic products, in “exchange” for a relatively freer operation of the market through the removal of the ceiling on the gross profit margin.
At the meeting –as noted by “K”– the president of the Business and Industries Association (SEB) Spyros Theodoropoulos, the president of the Hellenic Food Industries Association (SEBT) Ioannis Giotis and the president of the Supermarket Association of Greece (ESE) Ioannis Masoutis have been invited to participate, while the Minister of Development Takis Theodorikakos and the director of the Independent Audit Authority are also expected to participate. of Market and Consumer Protection, Despina Tsangaris.
In the context of the meeting, it is expected to discuss the content of the new “gentlemen’s agreement” which the government has chosen to call a “national social agreement”. Basic aim to implement as quickly as possible and include reduction in prices of basic food and household items in general. The market seems willing to make such a deal. What the market does not want, of course, is for the “gentlemen’s agreement” to last long. Its agents argue that such a move should be implemented from September, when citizens return from holidays.
As noted in yesterday’s “K” report, since the implementation of the “national social agreement” the extension after June 30 of the ceiling on the gross profit margin for 63 product categories is reportedly dependenta measure that came into effect on March 11, 2026 with a legislative act.
The Minister of Development is reportedly using this “paper” as a means of pressure for the rapid implementation of the “gentlemen’s agreement”: an agreement from now, otherwise the ceiling will continue.
What certainly won’t be extended is the cap on fuel margins. What will happen to the other ceiling? Much will be judged by the intensity and duration of the “national social agreement».
In any case, the government does not want to appear to be facing the wave of price hikes with price cuts on products that are in low demand, as happened last fall, when the initiative was implemented in about 2,000 codes.
