Rosen Karadimov, Chairman of the Competition Protection Commission, commented on the air of BNT what the role of the Commission is in regulating the artificial price increases, which traders justify with the introduction of the euro in our country.
"The Competition Protection Commission has no direct relations under the Law on the Introduction of the Euro. The direct functionality there is with the Competition Protection Commission and the National Revenue Agency. We do not appear in the Euro law at all. The Competition Protection Commission signed an agreement with the National Revenue Agency and the Competition Protection Commission to see the possible coordination between the regulators, because each regulator has specific powers. This agreement made it possible to accumulate the powers of the various regulators and it worked. The CPC was not the sanctioning and repressive body, but was conducting a dialogue with the business," said Karadimov.
Rosen Karadimov showed graphs and stated that there was no increase in the prices of basic food products in large chain stores during the summer quarter. Karadimov assured that everything is being done in sync with the business, but admitted that the prices in our country of goods, such as cheese, for example, are much higher than in a number of countries in Europe. However, according to him, this is not related to the euro, but is a problem of privatization, a broken agriculture and insufficient stock exchanges.
"The conclusion is that the introduction of the euro has not led to an increase in prices for large retail chains. This is thanks to the efforts of the CPC. In these prices, which have not moved during the summer months, however, there is between 40 and 100% markup compared to the stock exchange price. I am not saying that the prices are normal. I am saying that June, July and August did not move. This is not related to the euro, but is a matter of a structural problem. The CPC has started large-scale sectoral analyses to examine the entire supply chain from the manufacturer, through the suppliers, to the retail chain and even then we stated that if we find prohibited agreements or a dominant position within the framework of these analyses, we will take action ourselves and open other proceedings, which are special proceedings on prohibited agreements and a dominant position," commented the Chairman of the CPC.