Social Affairs Minister Johannes Rauch has announced that he will question the high price increases for food – now the Greens politician was shopping to compare how much the same shopping cart costs in Germany. He will discuss this on Monday at a summit with representatives of the major retail chains.
Butter, bread, apple juice, rice, bananas, sunflower oil and pesto – how much do you think the consumer protection minister had to pay for these items on his shopping list? An acquaintance in Germany, meanwhile, filled his basket with the same goods and then compared who ultimately had to spend more on their purchase.
In the end, Rauch had to pay 23 euros at the checkout – the German acquaintance only had to pay 16 euros for it. A proud difference of seven euros! “I’m in a privileged position now,” the minister said in the video he shared on social media, “I realize it’s getting more expensive, but I can afford it because of my privileged income,” said Rauch. “This is a real problem for many people,” says the minister.
Together with Vice Chancellor Werner Kogler, Rauch announced that he would therefore ask the food trade to sit down at the table on Monday. He wants justification for the fact that food in Austria is ten to twenty percent more expensive than in our northern neighbours. “Shopping shouldn’t become a luxury,” Rauch said at the end of the clip.
Kogler: “Price is becoming a bigger problem in everyday life”
“Inflation is becoming a bigger and bigger problem in people’s daily lives,” Kogler emphasized in another video Rauch shared on Instagram, pointing to rising prices for housing, energy and transportation. “At the checkout of the supermarket, while shopping, people notice that somehow it never works out,” the minister of Social Affairs clarifies. Politicians would have offered help with electricity and rent. The next step is now to “look” at the food as well. It is unacceptable that “in Austria people pay 10 to 20 percent more for exactly the same product” than in Germany – especially for those people “who are already tight”, says Kogler.
The vice-chancellor also demanded that the corporations provide an explanation for this – they too should “do their part”. The Federal Competition Authority is also behind it. In the video, Kogler also referred to successes: the climate ticket is one of the cheapest in Europe – for which one was only recently awarded.
Source: Krone
I’m Ben Stock, a journalist and author at Today Times Live. I specialize in economic news and have been working in the news industry for over five years. My experience spans from local journalism to international business reporting. In my career I’ve had the opportunity to interview some of the world’s leading economists and financial experts, giving me an insight into global trends that is unique among journalists.
