szelmar
13.05.02, 09:03
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Schumanna i Pan Nowina Konopka?
The German minister of Finance, Hans Eichel has admitted for the first time
that the euro transition forced up prices. "We relied too much on the fact that
retailers would police themselves and that was possibly a mistake," Hans Eichel
told officials of his Social Democratic party (SPD) according to Der Spiegel,
which quoted an unidentified SPD source.
"Other countries coped with the transition better," Mr Eichel said, citing
France, which banned price rises, and the Netherlands. "Now the price rises are
beginning to depress the mood of German consumers,” he said according to Der
Spiegel. The Finance Ministry, however, later denied that Eichel had admitted
mistakes.
National statistics show increased prices
A spokesman for the national statistics office said, according to the Guardian,
that consumers were showing increasing anger. "The impression people have that
everyday items have got more expensive is in no way misleading," Heinz-Peter
Hannappel said. According to statistics, vegetables have increased in price
since the start of 2002 by 18.3%, dairy products by 8%, bread by 4%, and
restaurants by 3.9%.
In an investigation of restaurants and pubs, the radio station WDR2 reported
that 80 per cent of prices had been put up since the introduction of the euro.
Some rises were as much as 30 per cent. The consumer office in North Rhine-
Westphalia has compiled tens of thousands of complaints and is investigating
1,369 companies.
German trade unions have reinforced their wage demands this year of 6.5 per
cent influenced by the sense that life is much more expensive under the euro.