The ruling Progressive Bulgaria coalition appears divided over the results of its flagship food-price initiative, “Care Basket,” with Agriculture Minister Plamen Abrovski calling the program an “absolute success” while parliamentary Agriculture Committee Chairman Yavor Gechev says it has fallen short of expectations.
Gechev made the assessment while speaking to reporters at the National Assembly, acknowledging that he had expected the initiative to have a greater impact on food prices.
“I expected it to accomplish more, but it is good to go back in history a little and see what the ‘Care Basket’ was. It was a call for the voluntary inclusion of chains for a reduction of at least 10%,” Gechev said. The actual commitment under the initiative is for a reduction of at least 15%.
He said the program had not delivered as much as had been anticipated, suggesting that participating retail chains had not demonstrated the level of social responsibility the government had hoped for.
“Unfortunately, however, I think that the ‘Care Basket’ did not do as much work as was expected of it. Apparently, the social responsibility of the chains themselves is not as much as we expected,” Gechev said.
