Greeks do not trust online, mail or phone-order shopping and are unable to do so because of the low penetration of the Internet in the country, according to the European commissioner for health and consumer affairs, Markos Kyprianou.

The percentage of citizens who stated they have made online purchases came to just 4 percent in Greece last year, while the European Union average stood as high as 27 percent.

Exactly the same percentages apply to citizens who were asked about mail-order purchasing in Greece and the EU.

Only 4 percent of Greeks placed shopping orders by phone, compared to the 15 percent average in the rest of Europe last year, said Kyprianou.

The EC commissioner was responding to a question by a Greek member of the European Parliament, Costis Hadzidakis.

The main reasons Kyprianou cited for this phenomenon include the limited penetration of the Internet and particularly of broadband as well as poor competition in the local market.

Furthermore, according to the latest data from the Eurobarometer (the European Union’s series of statistical surveys), the portion of Greeks from other EU states to have made a transaction via the Internet between 2003 and 2006 was no more than 1 percent.

That percentage places Greeks in the last position among European Union citizens.

Greeks living in other countries in the bloc told Eurobarometer surveys that they don’t trust transactions with other EU countries, Kyprianou said in his answer to Hadzidakis, a New Democracy MEP.