Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan stated that, next week, a decision would be made in the governing coalition regarding whether or not to keep the cap on the markup on basic foods.
„This capping is to expire on the 1st [of October], and at the end of June, when it was extended for another three months, the discussion we had in the Government on that date was that this would be the last extension. That was the discussion we had then. From the perspective of capping prices for food products, there are three fundamental aspects to this problem. First of all, the measure of intervening in the market in general is not a measure that solves things, because any kind of intervention in the market generates disturbances”, Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan said on Thursday evening for Euronews Romania.
He mentioned that in order to have good prices, in order to have quality products, the growth of agri-food production in Romania must be supported, processing must be supported, so that there are more Romanian products, and our companies are more competitive, to support the agri-food industry.
„And the second aspect – we must also ensure the existence of fair competition, namely the fact that in supermarkets, in distribution chains, all Romanian producers have access, there is fair treatment for all products, and in a country like Romania, Romanian producers are promoted and encouraged. These are the substantive aspects. As for a decision, after tomorrow’s discussion [with retailers] and after the discussions that we will have next week, we will make a decision on this aspect”, the prime minister emphasized.
According to him, the extension decision was made automatically, because it was three days after the Government was installed and no studies could be done. „Now we are gathering all the data from the markets, we are seeing what the evolution was, we are seeing what the reaction of the major distributors will be regarding what they estimate would happen and, depending on all this data, we will make a decision that we will communicate next week”, the prime minister stated. AGERPRES
