Lidl and Kaufland received almost $900m from the World Bank and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) to finance their CEE expansion plans over the last 10 years.
The banks say that financing Lidl and Kaufland helps create jobs and bring quality and reasonably priced products to poor consumers. However, unions argue public funds should not fund private companies. Lidl and Kaufland are owned by the Schwarz Group.
“The idea that injecting capital in multinationals will lead to durable development has always proven false in the last 20 years,” said Luiz Vieira, coordinator of the Bretton Woods Project, a non-governmental organization that monitors the World Bank.
