Calviño announces a "clarification" to the decree of direct aid so that they reach more SMEs and the self-employed
The First Vice President of the Government and Minister of Economic Affairs and for the Digital Transition, Nadia Calviño, announced this Monday that she is designing a clarification to the direct aid decree so that the Autonomous Communities, if they wish and still have available resources, can launch an additional call to reach more SMEs and freelancers. At present, several regions have closed without calls or are about to do so with a significant part of their budget not being executed due to lack of applications.
This is the distribution of direct government aid for freelancers and companies in each community
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Calviño has responded like this in an interview on Telecinco, collected by Europa Press, when asked about the complaints of small companies and freelancers about that the aid is not coming because they are only being granted to those who have pending bills and not to those who simply have losses due to COVID but are not delinquent.
The first vice-president explained that, from the point of view of the requirements of this aid, for which 7,000 million euros were budgeted, the established criteria are those that appear in the subsidy laws. Nadia Calviño explained that what is required to access these non-refundable funds (which do not have to be returned) is to prove that billing has fallen as a result of COVID and that there are outstanding debts, utility bills or financial debts, but Also those companies that have had losses and that the partners have assumed them can be welcomed, has specified
"We are preparing a clarification of this Royal Decree-law so that the Autonomous Communities that have resources and that want to make an additional call can do so and can execute (these grants) to the maximum between now and the end of the year", stressed the vice president .
Large differences in awards by Autonomous Communities
The self-employed organizations have warned for months that the aid could end up being a "failure", since there were many funds pending to be awarded and the terms of the calls were approaching their end. The decree approved by the Government obliges the Communities to return the money that they have not distributed as of December 31.
Nadia Calviño has recognized that the rhythm in the granting of these aid is varying a lot in the different communities, that some go faster than others, but has insisted that the Government is willing to support those regions that are granting the aid in a way slower. Several Communities governed by the PP sent a letter to the central government complaining about the "restrictive" criteria of aid, who denounced that they had made it impossible for the autonomies to adjudicate them.
Calviño has pointed out on the other hand that the fact that there is a lower demand for these aid also shows that all the effort made since March of last year to strengthen the business fabric and avoid widespread bankruptcies is bearing fruit.
Last week Calviño already announced that the Government had asked the European Commission to extend the extraordinary framework of public aid in response to Covid-19 beyond December 31 in order to extend the term of direct aid of 7,000 million for SMEs and self-employed due to the delays in some autonomous communities.
