LTA President Henriks Danusēvičs: The government does not listen to knowledgeable people
Conversation with Henriks Danusēvičs, President of the Latvian Traders Association (LTA)
The restrictions due to Covid-19 will be in place at least until February 7. This means that there will also be restrictions on trade. Thus, until February 7, only outlets selling certain product groups will be able to operate - groceries, hygiene products, essential household goods, mobile phone prepaid cards, tobacco products, herbal smoking products, electronic smoking devices and their liquids, animal feed and goods, press publications, public transport tickets, mouth and nose coverings and individual protective equipment, home-made agricultural products and flowers. But what about the other goods. When will they be allowed?
The Latvian Traders' Association (LTA) has called on the government to remove restrictions on trade for all goods. We have checked information from other countries, where we have been accused of having inaccurate information, but we still have the right information, and in several countries there are no restrictions within different product groups.
And it should also be noted that the company SIA Apgāds Zvaigzne ABC has applied to the Constitutional Court regarding the ban on the sale of books in person due to Covid-19. The application was submitted on January 29, based on Articles 91 and 105 of the Constitution.
We want restrictions on the trading of all goods on weekdays to be lifted. We could still settle for restrictions on Saturdays and Sundays.
Is there a dialogue between national and sectoral organizations?
On Friday, together with other organizations, we signed a letter to the government that we want a dialogue. We see that the government is currently addressing epidemiological risks isolated in each sector, rather than in a systemic and cross-sectoral approach. The Cabinet of Ministers does not establish social dialogue, makes little use of the knowledge, experience and recommendations of industry specialists. But we are in favor of dialogue, maintaining the hope that we will still be listened to. We cooperate with the Employers' Confederation of Latvia on these issues.
The main argument, emphasized by the Director of the State Chancellery Jānis Citskovskis, who heads the Operational Management Group, is that in one scales there is the convenience of customers in stores, and in the other - the lives of people. And so lives are a priority. Other officials think similar.
This is an argument to justify that the government is doing something. This contrast is not entirely correct, as both human lives and the economy must be saved.
But we are grateful and welcome the proposal of the Operational Management Group led by Jānis Citskovskis for the government to open bookstores and remove assortment restrictions in mixed stores (hygiene and food). Unfortunately, the benefits for children and plants (goods for children and gardening) have not yet been achieved. It is possible that traders of these goods - just like book stores - must submit an application to the Constitutional Court. The book ban and assortment restrictions must be lifted the day after the government meeting. In turn, other restrictions on goods should be removed as soon as possible in the days and weeks.
A few examples from the EU Member States. Free trade is in France, Estonia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Poland, minimum 10 m2 per 1 customer. Morbidity: in France - 4.77%, Estonia - 3.35%, Lithuania - 6.55%, Luxembourg - 8.26%, Poland - 3.99%, in Latvia the morbidity today - 3.45%, but the required area per 1 buyer is twice as large.
Let me remind you that fixing the trade in these goods should in no way be related to even more draconian trade requirements, such as additional requirements discussed in the Latvian Chamber of Commerce and Industry for measuring carbon dioxide concentration, reducing the number of allowed visitors, mandatory regular staff testing (testing one person costs 50 euros), a permanent epidemiological safety officer on duty at each point of sale.
For example, the restrictions on public transport are many times more relaxed than those in shops. The restrictions we have are two and a half times stricter than elsewhere in the European Union. And even then, our government thinks they are too lax. We think that there is no reason to undermine the economy with such arguments. The World Health Organization has said that the economic impact of restrictions needs to be assessed, but we do not see any action on the part of the government in this direction. One week ago, the Minister of Health Daniels Pavļuts promised that there will be a direct dialogue with the sectors at the expert level, but so far this has not happened, except once under the previous minister. We are looking forward to assessing the restrictions as a whole, rather than by product group, on the basis of the objective to be achieved.
LTA has surveyed 3,647 residents about shopping habits and their changes after removing restrictions of goods. Among other things, the results of the survey show that only 12% of respondents visit stores every day.
Also, less than half or 40% spend less than 15 minutes in the store, 55% - 16 to 30 minutes, but 5% - more than half an hour. 85% of respondents consider the store to be a safe place, 11% consider it unsafe, while 4% are dissatisfied with other shoppers not observing the distance or are afraid of reprimands or penalties.
Based on the assessment of the situation at retail outlets, the results of the population survey and the experience of European Union member states, as well as the more favorable epidemiological situation in Latvia compared to countries where sales are allowed, LTA repeatedly calls on the government to lift restrictions on weekdays and to put forth no additional technical requirements for the industry.
What has the Minister of Economics Jānis Vitenbergs (KPV LV) achieved and what do traders expect from him?
In the area of lifting restrictions, there are no promising news from him yet. But good work has been done in the sense that
at the Cabinet meeting on January 28, the government decided to significantly expand the range of potential beneficiaries to grant the compensation for the decline in turnover, adding new qualification criteria to the support program.
Earlier, at the January 12 meeting, the government decided that this grant would be available to businesses every month until the end of May this year. The amendments to the turnover grant support program approved at both government meetings will enter into force after their coordination with the European Commission.
In the past, the trade sector has been severely affected by the eligibility criteria where only companies with a 20% drop in turnover compared to December of the previous year can apply. Now they have been changed. This is logical because, under such conditions, less than five percent of companies in the sector could receive support.
Why exactly are books being so repressed? Are they such a coviddangerous product?
Prohibiting trade of goods by sorting what can and cannot be sold is unfair. Books are just one thing. Vija Kilbloka, Chairman of the Board of SIA Apgāds Zvaigzne ABC, was the first to prepare a complaint to the Constitutional Court with the help of lawyers. Last week, we had a discussion with booksellers, analyzing several options to remove this illogical ban. One of them is an application to the Constitutional Court.
There is another argument that Vija Kilbloka did not use in the complaint. There is also no logic in the fact that 1,500 libraries are currently allowed to operate, but 150 shops selling books are not allowed to operate in person. When it comes to the availability of books, bookstores are in an unequal position. In addition, a book taken to the library must also be returned, which means that you have to travel back and forth twice on public transport. Thus, the risk of spreading the infection is also higher. Nor has anyone explained to us where is the logic in this decision. The Ministry of Culture based itself on the logic that all seniors would immediately rush to public transport to go to bookstores. However, booksellers have located their bookstores in places with a high concentration of people where people can walk to.
A Vaccination Bureau has been established. Can we now look to the future more hopefully?
I assume that the Vaccination Bureau could make the work of the Ministry of Health more efficient and possibly more transparent. However, I do not understand, and I think that a large number of other taxpayers are also puzzled, why not use the internal resources of the ministry and the government instead of creating a new structure and spending a lot of money on it?
We have heard from our Lithuanian colleagues that their state administration apparatus is being reduced. When it comes to Estonia, our government explains that the apparatus is smaller for them because Estonia is a smaller country. But Lithuania is a bigger country!
For our part, we offer to help - to create vaccination points in shops and parking lots, where you can place vans, containers or tents for vaccination.
In the same manner, pharmacies, veterinarians could offer vaccinations.
We see that the main areas of transmission of the infection are currently nursing homes and hospitals. The infection also spreads by people moving across borders and bringing Covid from abroad. This should be a major focus, rather than sticking to illogical restrictions on the trade of certain goods.