Domestic retail chains are asking Brussels for help because of the price cap

Retail chains agree, according to a Politico article

“What is happening now is nothing more than the deliberate exclusion of certain businesses from the market. It is simply impossible to operate profitably in a sustainable manner under the conditions set by the Hungarian government,” the law on their businesses is “contrary to the principles of the EU’s internal market”

– told Politico an official of a Hungarian retail network with a foreign background, who requested anonymity.

The newspaper contacted the affected foreign retailers, whose managers all declined to comment by name.

The article also mentions that at the end of last year, the parliament decided that chains with an annual turnover of more than HUF 100 billion must supply food 48 hours before the expiration date without compensation. Later, in the spring of 2022, they decided to raise the special tax rate for these actors from 2.7 percent to 4.1 percent, citing crisis management and improving the budgetary situation.