Dev. Min.: 3 extraordinary measures against inflation

Three measures that the government will promote for a vote, in view of the emergency conditions, were announced by the Minister of Development and Investment, Adonis Georgiadis, from the floor of Parliament.

The time has come to protect the consumer from scams, said Mr. Georgiadis and announced that a provision for the disclosure of companies for scandal is being introduced for voting. The minister said the government was proposing the provision, without prejudice to any legal issues that might arise, and called for the parties’ support “so that there is an additional argument in support of this provision in the courtroom”.

“I want to be honest with both the companies and the judges who will be called to judge the order. We believe that the emergency conditions of the war do not allow us to act in a firefighting manner but we must act precautionarily. We will bring an order, according to the standards of the order due to covid, so that the General Secretariat for Consumer Affairs can publish the names of the companies to which fines are imposed for reasons of scandal. There will always be a reservation of any court decision of this administrative act by the court. But right now, for me, wartime profiteering is blackmail. We are in a time when no one can should more profit, taking advantage of the fact that there is global inflation and that there is a lot of imported inflation and to use it to earn more money”, noted Mr. Georgiadis and added that already the controls have intensified and are yielding. “It is the will of the Prime Minister, the government and me personally that we will not use any tools to help our fellow citizens, to overcome the great challenge of the illegal invasion of Ukraine and if we need to take even stricter measures in the future, we will be here to do it “, he stressed.

Ceiling in rents

The minister announced that a provision would be introduced that would set a 3% ceiling on professional lease increases from 1-1-2022 until the end of the year, so that companies could cope with the pressures they receive “mainly from imported inflation”. “Although as a politician I am a liberal and I believe in market regulation, there are extraordinary circumstances that force us to take extraordinary measures. We will introduce a special provision that will set a ceiling on the increase of rents for professional leases, for the whole of 2022, from 1-1-2022 to 3%”, he pointed out.

Chambers

Finally, the ministry proposes a provision extending the term of office of the administrations of the Chambers for another year, ie until the end of 2023. “We will vote accepting the request of the Central Union of Chambers and the Commercial and Industrial Chamber of Athens, the extension of the term of the administrations for another year. “In other words, the elections in the chambers will not take place at the end of 2022 but at the end of 2023. The Union told us that the conditions created by the market war are not suitable to start campaigns and disputes between them”, he underlined Mr. Georgiadis.

Welcoming the decision of Bratakos

“The introduction of a ceiling is a legitimate balancing act, which will allow the fair distribution of additional costs between landlords and tenants.”

This was noted by the president of the Athens Chamber of Commerce and Industry – EVEA, Giannis Bratakos, in his statements to state news agency AMNA regarding the decision for a 3% ceiling on the indexation adjustment of professional rents.

For the extension of the chamber elections until December 2023, the president emphasizes that it is a recognition of the need for the administrations to implement their program planning, which was delayed due to both the pandemic and the critical geopolitical conditions and developments.

The statement

Specifically, Mr. Bratakos said in his statement the following:

“EVEA expresses its satisfaction for the acceptance of its requests by the competent ministry, which confirms its role as an institutional advisor to the State.

The decision of the Minister of Development and Investment Adonis Georgiadis to establish a 3% ceiling on the indexation of professional rents, is a confirmation of the good intention of the competent ministry and Mr. Georgiadis, to actively support Greek entrepreneurship, in the midst of emergencies and dire straits. We consider that this measure constitutes a legitimate balancing intervention on the part of the state, which will allow the fair sharing of additional costs between landlords and tenants.

Regarding the acceptance of our request for an postponment of the chamber elections until December 2023, we consider that this is a recognition of the need of the chamber institution for additional quality time, which will allow the administrations to responsibly implement their program planning, which was delayed, due to previous restrictions imposed by the pandemic, as well as new, critical geopolitical conditions ”