The Commission said the margin restrictions were “contrary to the single market.”
It first launched the procedure in June with a letter of formal notice. Following the reasoned opinions, Hungary has two months to respond, after which the EC may refer the matter to the Court of Justice of the EU.
In response, the Ministry for National Economy claimed that Brussels was “taking the side of multinationals,” arguing the markup caps had slowed “unjustified price increases by multinationals” and helped reduce prices of affected food products by 20-24% and non-food items by over 27% on average.
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