EC president welcomes Greek PM’s intervention on unfair trade practices

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has welcomed a request by Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis for measures to help curb unfair trade practices by multinationals that result in the same products being sold at different prices in different member-states. 

In a response dated June 28 to the letter sent by the Greek prime minister in May, von der Leyen conceded that territorial supply constraints imposed by large-scale manufacturers do indeed "create price discrimination between consumers."

She noted that existing competition laws are effective against constraints if "companies are in a dominant position or have entered into non-competitive agreements," adding that the European Union is "constantly updating its rulebook."

To this end, she said, a fact-finding exercise would be conducted to explore possible solutions to the risk brought up by...