Strength gathers for anti-supermarket legislation

Self-Defense continues its fight against supermarkets and is preparing a Parliamentary bill on large surface stores. The proposed legislation envisages introducing fees for each square meter of a supermarket's surface, which will vary according to the size of the store. In the case of many supermarkets whose size exceeds 10,000 square meters the fee may amount to as much as zł.10,000 a day. Jan Rakowski, a representative of a trade and industry organization, which has worked out the project stated, "We are not looking for a fight with supermarkets. We just want to create a level playing field for domestic and foreign retailers. The fee for small traders at the local town market is between zł.3-12 per square meter per day. Why should supermarkets not pay anything? They are no different from market stalls." Apart from Self-Defense, the Polish Families League has already declared its support for the bill. Krzysztof Janik, the head of the Social Democratic Alliance stated that the initiative is "valuable". (Gazeta Wyborcza, p. 19) E.B.