site.btaOrganizers Call for Boycott of Supermarkets Every Thursday

Organizers of the boycott of retail chains called for a boycott of foreign hypermarkets every Thursday until they equalize prices of staple foods in Bulgaria with those in Austria and Germany, where the parent companies of these chains are and where incomes are at least twice as high, Velizar Enchev, a member of the initiative committee that organized the boycott and a former ambassador of our Bulgaria to Croatia, said on Tuesday. He spoke at a press conference at the BTA National Press Club in Sofia on the eve of the fourth boycott against food chains, planned for March 6.

On February 27, foreign retail chains boycotted the civil boycott against the high prices of food products, "bribing" Bulgarians with promotions only on that day. The next day, the red labels disappeared from the supermarket shelves, showing the cynicism of foreign retail chains in Bulgaria, Enchev said. In his words, they treat the Bulgarians as a "herd" that can be "tamed" with a promotion for BGN 1v, and on the other days of the week the prices are raised again.

Enchev said that the Consumer Protection Commission announced that there were 300 products that had increased prices. He reported that the positive news after the first boycott was that the government held an emergency meeting and promised urgent measures, including a price cap on basic foodstuffs, as in Greece, Croatia, France and other EU countries. “The voice of Bulgarian consumers has been heard by the government, but this voice will be silenced if Bulgarians this Thursday do not follow the example of the French, Croats and Greeks, who are fighting against high prices, profiteering and cartels with mass resistance with a boycott, not with crowds in hypermarkets for one-day promotions,” Enchev said.

According to the former ombudsman, Maya Manolova, the boycott should continue because of the need for civil pressure on the institutions, because in her words, so far there are only promises that the prices of basic food products will be reduced through appropriate legislative and administrative measures, but no real action. Another reason given by Manolova for continuing the boycott is "if only to provide the poorest Bulgarian population with a 50% reduction in supermarket prices".

She cited figures that 70% of the turnover generated in the third boycott on February 27 by retail chains was promotional. Manolova explained that normally in Western European countries the promotional turnover of the chains is between 10 -15%, in Bulgaria it is 40%, and on the day of the third boycott the promotional turnover was 70% of the total turnover of the chains. This is unheard of, but what else could be expected given that the promotions, discounts on basic goods were between 20-30-40%, somewhere above 50%, Manolova said.

The organizations that organize the boycott and those who support it have decided that the boycott will continue every Thursday until the government or MPs take at least one tiny step to reduce the unreasonably and absurdly high prices of basic food products in supermarkets, Manolova said. It is not normal, it is brazen that the prices of the same food products in the same chains in Sofia are higher than in Vienna, Berlin or Amsterdam, she said.

Tanya Mircheva, chairwoman of the civil platform "Your Voice", which supports the protests, noted the need to seek a solution to the problem and added that it can only be achieved through a constructive dialogue between all affected parties. In this regard, the platform invites to a roundtable - both representatives of the chains, the state, the initiative committee, consumers, to discuss how a solution to the problem of high prices can be found.