The agreement between the Greek government, food manufacturers and supermarket chains has been finalised. The harder work, though, starts now.

Over the next 10 to 15 days, the general framework agreed at Wednesday’s meeting, chaired by Greek Development Minister Takis Theodorikakos, must be turned into a concrete implementation plan: the participating products need to be selected, discount levels set, special shelf labelling organised, and agreements with individual businesses signed off, so that consumers begin seeing the first price cuts from 31 August.

The timing is no accident. Inflation is once again at the centre of political debate in Greece, just as the government tries to shift the conversation from rising prices to the rollout of this voluntary market agreement. Although headline inflation, as measured by Greece’s statistical authority ELSTAT, eased to 2.8% in June, food prices are still climbing at an annual rate of 2.7%, with some categories running far hotter: beef is up 15.6% and lamb 16.2% on the year.

It is against this backdrop that the new voluntary agreement is meant to operate.

A wide-ranging basket of goods

The initiative spans product categories that feature in most households’ everyday shopping: fresh meat (beef, pork and poultry), milk, yoghurt, cheese and eggs, bread and flour, pasta, rice and pulses, olive oil, seed oils, butter and margarine, infant formula, baby food and nappies, coffee and cereals, chocolate, biscuits and chocolate-based products, soft drinks, detergents and general household cleaners, personal hygiene products, and school supplies.

Fresh fruit and vegetables were left out of the scheme, since their prices swing too sharply from week to week to fit within a fixed discount framework.

Voluntary, not mandatory

Unlike previous government interventions on prices, this initiative does not impose mandatory reductions and is not backed by a ministerial decision setting binding conditions for businesses. Instead, it is a voluntary agreement between the government, the food industry and organised retailers, under which each company decides for itself whether to take part, which products to include, and by how much to cut prices.

“It’s not a matter of ‘I decide and command,'” Greek Development Minister Takis Theodorikakos said during an informal briefing after the meeting, summing up the philosophy behind the scheme. The aim, he explained, is to build a joint effort across the market, from suppliers through to supermarket chains, so that the benefit ultimately reaches the consumer.