The government calls on anyone who has raised their prices without any valid reason to restore them to the levels as of 31 December, or the government will impose strong measures against anyone who has made use of the euro changeover to raise their margins, PM Andrej Plenković said on Thursday.

Addressing the cabinet’s meeting, the Prime Minister said that some retailers have made use of the euro changeover to raise their prices without any justified reason. He underscored that the conversion from the kuna to the euro has been allowed without any fee and that cannot be cited as an excuse for the higher prices.

All the relevant ministerial departments are authorized to step up inspections of business entities, and the Economy Ministry is tasked with collecting full and accurate information about price trends.

The Ministry of Agriculture is tasked with collecting data on price trends for agricultural products. The government is also considering all other measures which will be taken to improve the protection of consumers. Plenkovic said that the government would not allow anybody to cast a shadow on the euro adoption and contribute to the growing inflation.

The government was aware that in other countries that had already adopted the euro, negligible increases of 0.2% or 0.4% in prices occurred in the aftermath of the changeover, however, the government would respond to the greed, said Plenkovic. He also praised a vast majority of businesses that have adhered to the rules while switching to the euro and called on them to distance themselves from those who have breached the conversion rules.