Ad. Georgiadis: We are constantly intervening in the market – We have the second lowest price for PCR testing in the EU

“We believe in the capitalist economy, we want to have an independent Competition Commission so that the market works for the benefit of the citizens and our national economy,” said Minister of Development and Investment Adonis Georgiadis during the discussion in the Production and Trade Committee of the Parliament. Law on “Modernization of Competition Law and the transposition of Directive (EU) 2019/1”.

The minister stated that the current draft law “incorporates the Community Directive and makes the Competition Commission more independent, more transparent in its operation and at the same time provides it with the resources it needs”. Our goal, he said, “is to have a Competition Commission more independent of any political leadership,” emphasizing that this is important for our capitalist economy, which has healthy competition at its core that prevents market distorted monopolies. “.

Inflation

Responding to the opposition’s objections, he refuted the fact that the government has fallen out of its inflation estimates, saying that in the 2022 budget for 2021 it predicted inflation of 0.8% and we have 1.2%, noting that such statistical changes do not affect the sizes and are in the context of moving upwards, not only throughout Europe but also worldwide. There is no magic potion, he said, that can affect prices in a connected economy when the global economy is inflationary. The bet, he added, is to be able to do better compared to other economies and Greece remained on an annual basis, in 2021, in the top 7 countries with the lowest inflation in the eurozone and secondly to be careful to heal the inflation damage in the available income of your fellow citizens and especially the most vulnerable.

PCR test

Referring to the opposition’s criticism of the “ceiling” of 47 euros per molecular test, Mr. Georgiadis said that “we have not made any valuation of PCR tests at the price of 47 euros. What we did, is that we set a ceiling on the maximum price which means that no one is allowed to sell more than 47 euros and not that it is forbidden to sell below this amount “. He explained that the price of the ceiling at 47 euros was decided and formulated after a study that took into account the wholesale cost of a small laboratory in the region, its operating costs and a legitimate profit of 10 euros per test that should have so as not to close or stop doing molecular tests, at a time when citizens need them. He described as “very reasonable” the fact that two mayors, Sykeon and Chalandri, competed and achieved prices lower than 47 euros per test, saying that “those who have made even one sale in their lives, since the time of the Sumerians, know that Wholesale sales are lower than the retail price and when the quantities are large, the prices given are even lower “- which is why EODY” which buys much larger quantities of PCR test, gets even lower prices than they got these two municipalities “. Mr. Georgiadis stressed that in Greece with the ceiling of 47 euros “we are the country with the lowest ceiling, of the few countries in Europe that put a ceiling. The average price of a PCR test in Greece is the second lowest in the EU after Cyprus “. The minister announced that he has already requested the prices of PCR tests from laboratories across the country and next week he will make them public, as he said, we have found prices that are 30, 32, 35 and 40 euros per test – an element that shows that here too the competition works just fine.

Masks

Regarding the masks of increased protection and their price, Mr. Georgiadis claimed that “our interventions were immediate and effective” as when the measure was announced on Thursday, that in some places the citizens should wear either masks of increased protection, or double surgery, some e-shops and pharmacies, the same night increased their price. We found out this the next day, Friday. On Saturday I said that on Monday we send checklists and we will impose very high fines – and when we actually did the checks on Monday, 12 of the 16 e-shops had dropped their prices, even from the one they had on Thursday, as well as today the masks of increased protection have an even lower price than they had before the announcement of the measures “.

He stressed that “the government is constantly intervening throughout the day. We have introduced a special market provision that prohibits the increase of the profit margin in the midst of a pandemic in basic health and food products, we carry out non-stop inspections.”

PPC and fuel

In the criticisms of the minority rapporteur regarding PPC, the minister said “it is audacious for SYRIZA to come and even mention the acronym of PPC, when during his government there was the conclusion of Mckinsey who had hired him as a consultant and who said that if PPC continues like this within the next year it will be closed! “. You, he said, “handed over to us a PPC with a total value of 100 million euros and today it exceeds 2 billion euros, that is, its value, under the government of Kyriakos Mitsotakis, has risen 20 times”. Therefore, he added, “you who make PPC can not give us suggestions”, especially when “for days you could get PPC with two passes and one hundred sunflower seeds!”.

Regarding the price increases in fuel and the “spot” of SYRIZA, Adonis Georgiadis characterized it as pointless, even in its symbolism, as he said, you chose to put a owner of a glittering and brand new Mercedes to protest that he went up by 10 minutes gasoline. He jokingly suggested that SYRIZA send him before publishing his spots in order to correct them, because it is “a pity to make such mistakes in relation to the effort you make”. He added that the opposition to the government today for the increase of fuel prices is hypocritical, reminding that even when during the SYRIZA-ANEL government their price had reached and was five minutes lower than today, the ministry had issued a statement saying that due to the increase in their international prices. This, he stressed, is an “imported problem and there are no magic solutions”.

SOURCE: AMPE