Bulgaria's competition commission has opened a number of proceedings against retail chains, and fines could reach almost 10% of their turnover, deputy prime minister Alexander Pulev said. The commission is expected to make an announcement next week.

Pulev, a guest on "The Day Starts with Georgi Lyubenov", said the chains could possibly face multimillion fines.

The Commission for Protection of Competition is checking how the chains treat consumers and producers. Pulev said that with "Progressive Bulgaria" in parliament, the commission's tools have been widened and made more varied, and the possible fines for various breaches have been raised.

Pulev believes the fines will have a structural and disciplining effect on the whole market and the value chain.

The deputy prime minister also spoke about the pledge by "Progressive Bulgaria" to cut food prices by 15%. He said parliament, the Council of Ministers and the regulators are all working against unfair trading practices. Rules now cover 32 such practices, each with a precise definition, so that inspection bodies and courts do not read them in different ways.

Pulev said the regulators are independent but share a goal with parliament and the government: to fight price pressure. He said it is a problem for the whole region and the world, not just Bulgaria, and it largely stops economic growth.

He said the state is on the side of households, families and Bulgarian consumers, and that the institutions are well co-ordinated and act in full sync.

Two days ago the Consumer Protection Commission, which is headed by Manolova, fined two retail chains for unfair trading practices. The breaches were unclear labelling of where goods come from, and label prices that differed from the price at the till.

Pulev said Manolova has her own style of work, and the consumer commission is now showing activity that was missing before. He also called the Bulgarian Food Safety Agency (BFSA) very active.

The agency checked quality and found irregularities at 7 warehouse sites of various chains across Bulgaria. It also closed 4 hot-food counters selling ready meals, known as "kitchen mothers", over poor hygiene and quality problems.

Details of the checked sites are published on the agencies' websites.