I see an extremely correct currency conversion of prices, the executive director of the Association for Modern Trade Nikolay Valkanov told the Bulgarian National Radio.
According to him, people have already started to get used to the double price indication and do not have the concerns they had at the beginning.
He believes that there will be no problem with the readjustment of cash registers after the given postponement.
In the program "Predi vissi" Valkanov commented on the changes to the Euro Law. According to him, such serious changes are not made at the last minute. This was the main concern of the business, he added.
"We had to conduct an active dialogue in an extremely short time with the authorities. This further introduced uncertainty on the part of the business, and additional uncertainty also appeared on the part of the citizens. This had to be avoided".
"In its attempt to demonstrate to the state that it has tightened the reins and that it will not allow any market manipulations - there is nothing wrong with that, but it is very difficult to maintain the right balance when the state wants to engage with a topic and at the same time not to prevent business from doing its job. The state is already on the way to disrupt this balance and is disrupting it. The main job of the trader is not to provide endless reports, data and deal with inspections that take hours. All this puts an enormous burden on the teams both in the administrative offices and those who are on the front line in the stores. And from a good desire for control, a perverse feeling of overcontrol actually results, which is about to damage the daily work of retailers", commented Nikolay Valkanov.
According to him, there is concern among businesses when the state, without having extraordinary circumstances, votes for itself extraordinary powers:
"With the extraordinary powers that are given to the Council of Ministers - to determine whether there are any sharp price increases, without it being clear what the definition is, to assess at its own discretion what measures to take - all this without the sanction of the National Assembly, for me personally it is a trampling of parliamentarism. I cannot explain how it is possible for the members of parliament themselves to vote that the Council of Ministers can do whatever they want, without their sanction. This is a prerequisite for extremely crude interference in market relations."
And for "Shop for the People", he expressed his opinion: "In my opinion, it would have been a much better investment - instead of 10 million leva, 200,000 leva had been allocated to create an exhibition store in the center of Sofia, which would be like a museum of state-owned stores during the socialist era, to remind people of the small selection that was available at the counter, the lack of goods, and the trade that was carried out under the counter. If we want this to return, it's a shame.
According to him, society has become very uncritical of this behavior of the state.
In his words, the only thing that protects the consumer's interest at the moment is competition, the free market and the possibility of access to a wide range of goods at attractive prices.
"Put between a rock and a hard place, traders may eventually start to fall apart at some point. This is an extremely long period of harassment, which will last until August 8 next year at best, because it is not clear whether it will not be extended. Ultimately, from a fairly good situation in the retail food market, which we currently have in the country, albeit with its shortcomings, we end up in a much more unpleasant situation, in which competition has already decreased, and there are not so many traders left, and there are not so many producers left. With all these legislative changes and measures that are being prepared, and direct intervention in the market - this would be the natural course of things", believes Valkanov.
Until August 12, opinions and comments can be given on the Food Supply Law. According to him, none of the criticisms have been reflected. In its current version, it is even more restrictive and even more limiting for business, he expressed his opinion and added:
"If the government wants a very quick punitive procedure from the EC, let it continue in this spirit".
"I hope for a little reason and for the balance to be restored. It is obvious that the state is lagging behind in collecting the revenue part of the budget, there are extremely inflated expenses that cannot be covered in any other way, except with external debt, which is also being contracted. "By destroying the balances of trade, the state could ultimately be left with two chairs on the ground," he warned and recommended: "This rewinding, which is about to break the spring, I think should be reversed."