Perhaps tomorrow or the day after tomorrow, the “Lenten basket” will be announced, in which there will be additional positions, according to the Deputy Minister of Development and Investments, Nikos Papathanasis.

“As was done with the Christmas basket, Lenten products will now be added to keep prices low so that all our fellow citizens can buy the essentials for Lent,” N. Papatanasis noted in the First Program.

He recalled that every Wednesday the basket is updated, so a possible start date for the Lenten basket could be February 15th.

Will the basket be expanded?

Regarding the legislative regulation of the “basket of households”, which usually expires on March 31, Mr. Papatanasis noted that while accuracy remains, the government should continue to support and, as was said from the very beginning, move towards the end of the measure, appropriate decisions will be made to granting appropriate extensions.

When asked what the family saves on when buying from the basket, N. Papatanasis answered that a family of four earns about 80 euros per month. Along with the trading card, which will begin to apply in the coming days and pay out amounts by March 3, the Market Pass will give an amount that is 10% of consumer purchases.

“For a family of four, it’s 52 euros. And if the “basket” is used by the family itself, it can benefit from 80 euros. We cannot be 100% accurate. It would not be true to say so, but we are doing everything, everything we can, in order to support households,” Mr. Papathanasis stressed.

Signage in supermarkets is changing

The Deputy Minister also noted that the labeling of supermarket products will be changed.

Corrective actions have been taken with the labeling since the launch of the trolley, he said, however it was noticed that the unit price was written in small letters.

“What we are doing is passing laws so that both the price of the product and the price per kilogram are indicated in one font, in one size. If, for example, we buy a piece of 300 grams, we will have the price of the product, and next to it we will have the price per kilo. This is done immediately. Gradually, all supermarkets are harmonized, and of course we also carry out checks to make sure all supermarket operations are harmonized. From Monday, all supermarkets should have the same prices,” Mr. Papathanasis said.

Market Pass at bank or physical card

With regard to the Market Pass, he said that in 6-7 days, applications will begin, with the method of applying and paying the amount will be similar to the Fuel Pass.

“If we choose to transfer money to the IBAN account, we will have a 20% discount, but three months will be paid together, that is, February, March, April in one payment, on March 3rd. What we want to do is really support households, and we said that this 10% is better than the 7% proposed by SYRIZA as a VAT reduction,” the minister added.

“Therefore, citizens can choose to either pay money to an IBAN account or use an intangible card to shop at supermarkets, fruit shops, grocery stores, butchers, and street markets where merchants and manufacturers have POS.” , added the Deputy Minister of Development, noting that this specific measure will be valid for six months.

As for food inflation, Mr. Papatanasis said official figures put it at 15%, “the third lowest rate in Europe.”

Consumer Protection: Phishing Bill Passed in House

For discounts, the reference price at which the discount starts is now considered to be the lowest price in the previous thirty days. And that’s where enforcement comes in, according to Mr. Papatanasis, who warned that the penalties would be severe. At the same time, he added, a bill on “phishing” (electronic phishing attacks) is in Parliament.

“Until now, consumers have not been protected. Now we set a limit of 1000 euros and more. Banks have to compensate, so we also have to be consistent, be careful not to give out codes, there is no reason to ever give a code from a phone, laptop or mobile. It will be voted on this week, early next week, and there will be appropriate guarantees from banks to cover this entire gap. Therefore, another measure to protect consumers,” he said.