Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu announced on Thursday the decision related to the proposal from small and medium-sized traders to close supermarkets on the weekend, as is the case in other European countries. “From all the signals received from society, it is clear that it is not appropriate for shops to be closed on the weekend,” said the prime minister.
“I want to close a topic that has caused public debate, the one related to the weekend store hours. From all the signals received from society, it is clear that it is not appropriate for shops to be closed on the weekend! As far as I can remember, markets were closed during the pandemic or shops were closed. I want to inform you that we are no longer at that stage”, PM Marcel Ciolacu said on Thursday at the beginning of the government sitting.
The idea of reducing the hypermarkets’ program at the weekend caused a stir, including online, where opinions are divided. The idea already implemented in some countries of the European Union was taken into consideration by the Minister of Agriculture.
The first discussions took place on Wednesday, when the management of the National Association of Small and Medium Traders met with Marcel Ciolacu, the topic of the discussion being the encouragement of local trade and mechanisms by which traders can help reduce food inflation.
“We thought that if we closed on Saturdays and Sundays at 2 p.m., the shops would not suffer too many people. In the first phase, the discussions were to close them completely from Friday evening until Monday morning, but a number of members of our Association who work with perishable products that expire in 4 days came and who would have been affected by such a possibility. So we thought of this scheme that we will submit today (Friday-red) to the prime minister at the Government headquarters”, said Feliciu Paraschiv, vice-president of the National Association of Small and Medium-sized Traders in Romania.
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