Ban on Sunday shopping slated for full, partial lifting as result of latest deal with creditors

By S. Zisimos
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The looming prospect of a partial liberalization of the framework governing Sunday shop hours in the country will reportedly translate into a lifting of the relevant ban between May and October, one of the highlights of the latest agreement between the leftist Greek government and creditors this week.

Lifting or partially lifting the ban on Sunday shopping has long been a demand by the IMF, with finance ministry officials reportedly claiming that the agreement, in principle, to conclude the second review of the Greek program would not have been finalized this week if Athens continued to object to the liberalization.

Lifting the Sunday store opening ban would allow merchants and retailers to open, should they want. Initial reports referred only to "tourism" areas, with a looser definition of what constitutes a tourist region and an extension of the tourism season cited. Stores hours are already fully deregulated in tourism areas, such as well-known holiday islands.

However, designated tourism regions in the country are current defined by a presidential decree dating back to 1976, a framework judged as wholly outdated.

When asked about the prospect of Sunday shopping, given that the Tsipras government continuously expressed opposition to the prospect, relevant Economy Minister Dimitri Papadimitriou on Tuesday said that "naturally we disagreed, but this is something that occurs in most European countries and America. We can see this (lifting of the ban) as a modernization."

Papadimitriou is a well-known US-based academic with decades-old tenure at the elite private Bard University, located just north of New York City, before entering the Greek political scene in the past year and a half with the previously anti-bailout, anti-austerity SYRIZA party.