European Parliament urges the European Commission to investigate and regulate the European retail sector

The European Parliament adopted in the opening of its plenary session in Strasbourg on Monday night a written declaration initiated by a group of MEPs through which they urge the European Commission to investigate and regulate the European retail sector. EP President Hans-Gert Pottering announced that they adopted the declaration.

The document urges the Directorate General for Competition to investigate the effects of the market concentration of suppliers, small enterprises of workers and consumers. Moreover, they urge to evaluate whether there are any abuses generated by such concentrations.

European Deputies argued that the EU retail sector is dominated by a small number of supermarkets that become the ‘guardians’ of the sector and abuse their power. The declaration was signed by some 439 European Deputies and thus became an official EP stand.

The main five European retailers are Carrefour, Metro, Tesco, Rewe and Schwarz Group and hold almost 70% of the market, according to Responsible Purchasing Initiative data.