Two of Greece’s largest supermarket chains have been hit with multimillion-euro fines after government inspectors accused them of breaching rules on pricing and consumer protection.
The Ministry of Development announced that Lidl has been fined €805,340 for violating the cap on profit margins, following an investigation ordered in 2024 by Development Minister Takis Theodorikakos. The process was finalized earlier this month. Meanwhile, rival chain Sklavenitis has been ordered to pay €1.44 million for alleged breaches of the retail Code of Conduct during inspections carried out in the summer of 2025.
Both companies deny the accusations. Sklavenitis issued a strongly worded statement rejecting the penalty as “unreasonable and unprecedented.” The chain said regulators based their ruling on 36 price tags at a single store in the Athens suburb of Nea Chalkidona, accusing the company of misleading customers. Sklavenitis countered that the disputed markings — including the abbreviation “AT” and the use of yellow labels to highlight low-priced items — had been approved by the ministry itself. The retailer insisted it had not broken the law, vowed to challenge the fine in court, and accused the authorities of defamation.
Lidl also dismissed the ruling as unfair. In its response, the company said the sanction stemmed from a legal framework that has since been abolished and “was inapplicable and unclear” at the time. The alleged violations, it added, involved just 32 products out of more than 500 examined. Lidl stressed that it has kept prices stable on over 1,000 products during the past year, while cutting prices on more than 500, and portrayed itself as standing by Greek consumers during a period of high inflation. The chain said it will pursue all available legal remedies to overturn the decision.
