ATHENS — "I believe we have already the formula and we must try it but on no account will public health be 'offset' in any way. This is something we will not discuss, we can with simple rules learn to live with this situation," general secretary of commerce and consumer protection Panagiotis Staboulidis said to Athens-Macedonian News Agency radio station "Praktoreio" on Tuesday.

He clarified that the necessary technical framework has now been developed that will guarantee the smooth operation of the retail market from next Monday, using the online tools "click away" and "click in shop".

"We must support businesses and launch the operation of commerce with rules, one careful step at a time, in order for the Greek economy to start moving," he underlined, adding that the technical preparations were complete for reopening retail next Monday. "The decisions are taken by the prime minister and we must have the entire technical framework in place to ensure the smooth operation of the market," he added.

Staboulidis also said that there was a specific proposal and plan, adding that the "tool we introduced to the market and the Greek economy, click away, had not been implemented in other countries before was adopted in the UK after the fiasco with the open market in the midst of a pandemic."

He also explained that the 'click away' method where goods are picked up at the shop entrance was not as useful for some products that customers need to try on, such as shoes, jewellery and clothes, and for these specific sectors, the government was introducing 'click in shop' where customers could book appointments to try on purchases inside the shop within a specific time slot, and restrictions on the number allowed to enter.