Background information

On 30 October 2022, the Minister of Development and Investments with the decision No. 104093/2022 "Determination of categories of products included in the household basket"; determination of the frequency of sending the list of products by the obligated parties; designation of the competent control authority; determination of the procedure for the collection of fines and other specific issues for the application of article 87 of Law 4986/ 2022 (A' 204)", introduced a new measure: the so-called “household basket” in order to face rising inflation and high food prices. The aim of the household basket is to offer to the consumers some special products, one per category, essential for a decent living, at lower prices. The measure has been extended till 31 December 2024.

Content of measure

Ministerial Decision No 104093/2022 on the household basket provides that supermarkets with an annual turnover of more than €90 million per year, are obliged to send to the Ministry of Development a list of consumer products ("household basket") that are necessary for a decent living and in particular at least one product from (primarily) 51 product categories that are included in the "household basket".

The supermarket chains participating in the measure include 13 companies across the country. Each chain is free to choose which specific product codes from the list will be included in the basket and their (lower) prices. The products that make up the 'Basket' could then be found on supermarket shelves with a special mark and the items for the household basket updated every week, including everything from bread for toast, rice, eggs, spaghetti, toilet paper and even pet food. For non-submission of the list of products or for incomplete submission by the obliged enterprises, a fine of €5,000 would be imposed for each day of delay. The ‘Household Basket’ measure has been extended till the end of 2024. The prices of the products that make up each supermarket's "household basket" are posted on a dedicated website . The prices announced remain in force for one week; the prices and the content of the basket change every Wednesday.

The rationale behind the novel concept of the 'household basket' was the need for relief measures to counter rising inflation which led the Greek government to focus on staple goods.

Use of measure

According to the research of EKPOIZO (Consumers Association - The Quality of Life) the basket has a reduced impact on the consumers. The survey was conducted from 14 December 2022 to 22 January 2023 on a sample of over 1,000 consumers. More than half (54.3%) do not buy products from the basket, responding among other things that they choose products in private label offers, that they find cheaper items out of the basket or that they do not consider them of quality.

Also, according to information given by ΕΕΚΕ (Greek Consumer Workers' Association), double-digit rates of price increases are recorded even within the basket while there is also profiteering camouflaged by misleading tricks such as reducing the content in packaging. EEKE proposes to replace the profit margin with gross profit in absolute size per physical unit of product or service.

Ιn a Survey on the trends in consumer behaviour due to the increase in prices of products and services conducted by the ΕΕΚΕ (Greek General Confederation of Workers) (from 10 January to 10 February 2023, with 1,710 online questionnaires completed), the majority of respondents (83%) answered negatively to the question whether they make purchases from the household basket. 71% say that the household basket does not contribute at all to reducing the cost of food and household essentials.

Similarly, the Small Enterprises' Institute of the Hellenic Confederation of Professionals, Craftsmen, and. Merchants (IME GSEVEE) Survey (January 2024) on the income and living expenses of households in 2023 (telephone interviews conducted by MARC SA on a sample of 818 representative households from all over Greece between 14 and 21 December 2023) an overwhelming majority (80.6%) assessed the government's measures to tackle the problem of high prices as insufficient, or inadequate. Especially for the household basket, only 2.9% of households said that they considered it an appropriate measure to address the problem of high pricing

Target groups

Workers	Businesses	Citizens
Does not apply to workers	Sector specific set of companies Larger corporations	Applies to all citizens

Actors and funding

Actors	Funding
National government Company / Companies	No special funding required

Social partners

Social partners' role in designing the measure and form of involvement:

	Trade unions	Employers' organisations
Role	No involvement	No involvement
Form	Not applicable	Not applicable

Social partners' role in the implementation, monitoring and assessment phase:

• No involvement
• Main level of involvement: N/A

Involvement

There is no any involvement of social partners.

Views and reactions

On 13 October 2022 GSEVEE (Hellenic Confederation of Professionals, Craftsmen and Merchants), in a Press release argued that, the "household basket" is just an illusion. The list of 51 basic consumer products does not respond to the frustration that the wave of the increase of product prices has caused. The primary cause of the prices’ rising is the energy cost. Therefore, the prices imposed by the energy oligopoly must be strongly restrained. Even if there are no increases in those products under surveillance (that is “household basket), there will be larger increases in complementary or substitute products. The measure does not provide for a ban on increases, but for price monitoring, while shifting purchases towards large supermarket chains to the detriment of small businesses.

Similarly, the Athens Chamber of Commerce supports that the list of products is insufficient, as a household needs more products and estimated that food chains will mainly promote private label products, thus increasing their profit.

Sectors and occupations

This case is not occupation-specific.

Sources

• 06 October 2022: Τι είναι το καλάθι του νοικοκυριού για συγκράτηση των τιμώ (www.odigostoupoliti.eu)
• 13 October 2022: «Καλάθι του νοικοκυριού»: «Ανεπαρκές», υποστηρίζουν ΓΣΕΒΕΕ και ΕΕΑ (www.tanea.gr)
• 31 October 2022: Ministerial Decision of Minister of Development No 104093/202 (www.dsanet.gr)
• 27 January 2023: Διαλύοντας μύθους για το καλάθ (www.efsyn.gr)
• 27 March 2023: Καλάθι του νοικοκυριού: «Ανάσα» η νέα παράταση - Μέχρι πότε θα ισχύσε (www.cnn.gr)
• 01 July 2023: «Καλάθι του νοικοκυριού»: Παρατείνεται μέχρι το τέλος του χρόνο (www.cnn.gr)
• 04 December 2023: Καλάθι του νοικοκυριού: Παρατείνεται έως τις 30 Ιουνίου 202 (www.ot.gr)
• 01 July 2024: Ministry of Development, Press release 01.07.2024 (www.taxheaven.gr)