Abuse of power by supermarkets #Declaration of the European Parliament on investigating and remedying abuse of power by large supermarkets operating in the European Union
Date: 2008-02-19
Institutions: European Parliament
Subjects: competition law, consumer information, consumer protection, distributive trades, monopsony, purchasing power, resolution (EU), supermarket








CE2009184EN.01002301.xml










6.8.2009   


EN


Official Journal of the European Union


CE 184/23





Tuesday 19 February 2008Abuse of power by supermarkets

P6_TA(2008)0054

Declaration of the European Parliament on investigating and remedying abuse of power by large supermarkets operating in the European Union
2009/C 184 E/04

The European Parliament,
having regard to Rule 116 of its Rules of Procedure,






A.


whereas, throughout the EU, retailing is increasingly dominated by a small number of supermarket chains,










B.


whereas these retailers are fast becoming ‘gatekeepers’, controlling farmers' and other suppliers' only real access to EU consumers,










C.


whereas evidence from across the EU suggests large supermarkets are abusing their buying power to force down prices paid to suppliers (based both within and outside the EU) to unsustainable levels and impose unfair conditions upon them,










D.


whereas such squeezes on suppliers have negative knock-on effects on both quality of employment and environmental protection,










E.


whereas consumers potentially face a loss in diversity of products, cultural heritage and retail outlets,










F.


whereas some Member States have introduced legislation attempting to limit such abuse, yet large supermarkets increasingly operate across national borders, making EU legislation desirable,










1.


Calls upon DG Competition to investigate the impact that the concentration of the EU supermarket sector is having on small businesses, suppliers, workers and consumers and, in particular, to assess any abuses of buying power which may follow from such concentration;










2.


Requests the Commission to propose appropriate measures, including regulation, to protect consumers, workers and producers from any abuse of a dominant position or other negative impact identified in the course of this investigation;










3.


Instructs its President to forward this declaration, together with the names of the signatories, to the Commission, the Council and the parliaments of the Member States
List of signatories
Adamos Adamou, Vittorio Agnoletto, Vincenzo Aita, Gabriele Albertini, Jim Allister, Roberta Alma Anastase, Georgs Andrejevs, Alfonso Andria, Laima Liucija Andrikienė, Emmanouil Angelakas, Roberta Angelilli, Alfredo Antoniozzi, Kader Arif, Stavros Arnaoutakis, Richard James Ashworth, Francisco Assis, John Attard-Montalto, Elspeth Attwooll, Marie-Hélène Aubert, Jean-Pierre Audy, Margrete Auken, Inés Ayala Sender, Liam Aylward, Pilar Ayuso, Peter Baco, Mariela Velichkova Baeva, Enrique Barón Crespo, Etelka Barsi-Pataky, Alessandro Battilocchio, Katerina Batzeli, Edit Bauer, Jean Marie Beaupuy, Zsolt László Becsey, Angelika Beer, Ivo Belet, Irena Belohorská, Jean-Luc Bennahmias, Monika Beňová, Pervenche Berès, Sergio Berlato, Giovanni Berlinguer, Thijs Berman, Šarūnas Birutis, Jana Bobošíková, Sebastian Valentin Bodu, Jens-Peter Bonde, Guy Bono, Mario Borghezio, Josep Borrell Fontelles, Umberto Bossi, Costas Botopoulos, Bernadette Bourzai, Sharon Bowles, Iles Braghetto, Frieda Brepoels, Hiltrud Breyer, André Brie, Danutė Budreikaitė, Paul van Buitenen, Kathalijne Maria Buitenweg, Ieke van den Burg, Colm Burke, Niels Busk, Cristian Silviu Bușoi, Philippe Busquin, Joan Calabuig Rull, Mogens Camre, Luis Manuel Capoulas Santos, Marco Cappato, Marie-Arlette Carlotti, Carlos Carnero González, Giorgio Carollo, Paulo Casaca, Françoise Castex, Giuseppe Castiglione, Giusto Catania, Alejandro Cercas, Giulietto Chiesa, Sylwester Chruszcz, Luigi Cocilovo, Carlos Coelho, Richard Corbett, Dorette Corbey, Giovanna Corda, Titus Corlățean, Jean Louis Cottigny, Michael Cramer, Corina Crețu, Gabriela Crețu, Brian Crowley, Magor Imre Csibi, Marek Aleksander Czarnecki, Ryszard Czarnecki, Daniel Dăianu, Joseph Daul, Dragoș Florin David, Chris Davies, Antonio De Blasio, Bairbre de Brún, Arūnas Degutis, Véronique De Keyser, Gérard Deprez, Proinsias De Rossa, Harlem Désir, Nirj Deva, Mia De Vits, Agustín Díaz de Mera García Consuegra, Jolanta Dičkutė, Gintaras Didžiokas, Alexandra Dobolyi, Brigitte Douay, Mojca Drčar Murko, Bárbara Dührkop Dührkop, Árpád Duka-Zólyomi, Constantin Dumitriu, Michl Ebner, Saïd El Khadraoui, Maria da Assunção Esteves, Edite Estrela, Harald Ettl, Jill Evans, Robert Evans, Richard Falbr, Claudio Fava, Szabolcs Fazakas, Emanuel Jardim Fernandes, Francesco Ferrari, Anne Ferreira, Elisa Ferreira, Ilda Figueiredo, Petru Filip, Věra Flasarová, Hélène Flautre, Alessandro Foglietta, Hanna Foltyn-Kubicka, Nicole Fontaine, Glyn Ford, Armando França, Monica Frassoni, Duarte Freitas, Sorin Frunzăverde, Kinga Gál, Vicente Miguel Garcés Ramón, José Manuel García-Margallo y Marfil, Iratxe García Pérez, Giuseppe Gargani, Jas Gawronski, Lidia Joanna Geringer de Oedenberg, Claire Gibault, Adam Gierek, Maciej Marian Giertych, Neena Gill, Ioannis Gklavakis, Béla Glattfelder, Gian Paolo Gobbo, Bogdan Golik, Bruno Gollnisch, Ana Maria Gomes, Donata Gottardi, Genowefa Grabowska, Dariusz Maciej Grabowski, Friedrich-Wilhelm Graefe zu Baringdorf, Luis de Grandes Pascual, Louis Grech, Elly de Groen-Kouwenhoven, Lilli Gruber, Ambroise Guellec, Pedro Guerreiro, Umberto Guidoni, Zita Gurmai, Catherine Guy-Quint, András Gyürk, Fiona Hall, David Hammerstein, Benoît Hamon, Małgorzata Handzlik, Gábor Harangozó, Marian Harkin, Rebecca Harms, Satu Hassi, Adeline Hazan, Anna Hedh, Gyula Hegyi, Erna Hennicot-Schoepges, Edit Herczog, Esther Herranz García, Jim Higgins, Mary Honeyball, Milan Horáček, Richard Howitt, Ján Hudacký, Ian Hudghton, Stephen Hughes, Alain Hutchinson, Jana Hybášková, Filiz Hakaeva Hyusmenova, Monica Maria Iacob-Ridzi, Mikel Irujo Amezaga, Marie Anne Isler Béguin, Carlos José Iturgaiz Angulo, Lily Jacobs, Mieczysław Edmund Janowski, Lívia Járóka, Elisabeth Jeggle, Pierre Jonckheer, Ona Juknevičienė, Jelko Kacin, Gisela Kallenbach, Sylvia-Yvonne Kaufmann, Metin Kazak, Tunne Kelam, Wolf Klinz, Jaromír Kohlíček, Maria Eleni Koppa, Magda Kósáné Kovács, Miloš Koterec, Sergej Kozlík, Wolfgang Kreissl-Dörfler, Ģirts Valdis Kristovskis, Urszula Krupa, Wiesław Stefan Kuc, Sepp Kusstatscher, Zbigniew Krzysztof Kuźmiuk, Joost Lagendijk, André Laignel, Jean Lambert, Stavros Lambrinidis, Romano Maria La Russa, Vincenzo Lavarra, Johannes Lebech, Stéphane Le Foll, Roselyne Lefrançois, Bernard Lehideux, Lasse Lehtinen, Jörg Leichtfried, Jo Leinen, Katalin Lévai, Bogusław Liberadzki, Marcin Libicki, Eva Lichtenberger, Kartika Tamara Liotard, Alain Lipietz, Pia Elda Locatelli, Andrea Losco, Caroline Lucas, Elizabeth Lynne, Linda McAvan, Arlene McCarthy, Mary Lou McDonald, Mairead McGuinness, Edward McMillan-Scott, Jamila Madeira, Ramona Nicole Mănescu, Mario Mantovani, Marian-Jean Marinescu, Helmuth Markov, David Martin, Hans-Peter Martin, Jean-Claude Martinez, Miguel Ángel Martínez Martínez, Jan Tadeusz Masiel, Antonio Masip Hidalgo, Jiří Maštálka, Ana Mato Adrover, Mario Mauro, Erik Meijer, Íñigo Méndez de Vigo, Emilio Menéndez del Valle, Willy Meyer Pleite, Rosa Miguélez Ramos, Marianne Mikko, Miroslav Mikolášik, Francisco José Millán Mon, Claude Moraes, Eluned Morgan, Luisa Morgantini, Philippe Morillon, Jan Mulder, Roberto Musacchio, Cristiana Muscardini, Joseph Muscat, Francesco Musotto, Sebastiano (Nello) Musumeci, Riitta Myller, Pasqualina Napoletano, Robert Navarro, Cătălin-Ioan Nechifor, Catherine Neris, Rareș-Lucian Niculescu, Ljudmila Novak, Vural Öger, Cem Özdemir, Péter Olajos, Jan Olbrycht, Seán Ó Neachtain, Gérard Onesta, Dumitru Oprea, Josu Ortuondo Larrea, Csaba Őry, Siiri Oviir, Reino Paasilinna, Justas Vincas Paleckis, Marie Panayotopoulos-Cassiotou, Vladko Todorov Panayotov, Marco Pannella, Pier Antonio Panzeri, Dimitrios Papadimoulis, Atanas Paparizov, Neil Parish, Ioan Mircea Pașcu, Bogdan Pęk, Maria Petre, Tobias Pflüger, Rihards Pīks, João de Deus Pinheiro, Józef Pinior, Mirosław Mariusz Piotrowski, Francisca Pleguezuelos Aguilar, Zita Pleštinská, Rovana Plumb, Anni Podimata, Zdzisław Zbigniew Podkański, Bernard Poignant, Adriana Poli Bortone, José Javier Pomés Ruiz, Mihaela Popa, Nicolae Vlad Popa, Christa Prets, Pierre Pribetich, Vittorio Prodi, Miloslav Ransdorf, Karin Resetarits, José Ribeiro e Castro, Teresa Riera Madurell, Giovanni Rivera, Marco Rizzo, Michel Rocard, Bogusław Rogalski, Zuzana Roithová, Luca Romagnoli, Raül Romeva i Rueda, Wojciech Roszkowski, Mechtild Rothe, Libor Rouček, Martine Roure, Christian Rovsing, Luisa Fernanda Rudi Ubeda, Heide Rühle, Eoin Ryan, Guido Sacconi, Aloyzas Sakalas, Katrin Saks, María Isabel Salinas García, Antolín Sánchez Presedo, Manuel António dos Santos, Daciana Octavia Sârbu, Amalia Sartori, Gilles Savary, Luciana Sbarbati, Pierre Schapira, Karin Scheele, Carl Schlyter, Frithjof Schmidt, Pál Schmitt, György Schöpflin, Adrian Severin, Czesław Adam Siekierski, Brian Simpson, Kathy Sinnott, Marek Siwiec, Alyn Smith, Csaba Sógor, Bogusław Sonik, María Sornosa Martínez, Bart Staes, Grażyna Staniszewska, Petya Stavreva, Struan Stevenson, Catherine Stihler, Theodor Dumitru Stolojan, Dimitar Stoyanov, Daniel Strož, Robert Sturdy, Margie Sudre, László Surján, Gianluca Susta, József Szájer, Konrad Szymański, Csaba Sándor Tabajdi, Antonio Tajani, Andres Tarand, Salvatore Tatarella, Marianne Thyssen, Silvia-Adriana Țicău, Gary Titley, Patrizia Toia, László Tőkés, Ewa Tomaszewska, Witold Tomczak, Antonios Trakatellis, Catherine Trautmann, Kyriacos Triantaphyllides, Helga Trüpel, Claude Turmes, Feleknas Uca, Inese Vaidere, Johan Van Hecke, Anne Van Lancker, Geoffrey Van Orden, Daniel Varela Suanzes-Carpegna, Yannick Vaugrenard, Armando Veneto, Riccardo Ventre, Donato Tommaso Veraldi, Bernadette Vergnaud, Marcello Vernola, Oldřich Vlasák, Johannes Voggenhuber, Sahra Wagenknecht, Diana Wallis, Henri Weber, Renate Weber, Anders Wijkman, Glenis Willmott, Janusz Wojciechowski, Francis Wurtz, Luis Yáñez-Barnuevo García, Zbigniew Zaleski, Mauro Zani, Andrzej Tomasz Zapałowski, Stefano Zappalà, Tomáš Zatloukal, Tatjana Ždanoka, Dushana Zdravkova, Vladimír Železný, Roberts Zīle, Gabriele Zimmer, Marian Zlotea, Tadeusz Zwiefka