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“The BMF has decidedly not been wrong here,” it says in a statement. It was confirmed that the path chosen was simply the same as for the first fixed cost grant approved by the EU.
In an exchange with the Ministry of Finance and entrepreneurs in the morning, the representative of the EU Commission, Martin Selmayr, pointed out that, in view of the blockade at that time, an application analogous to an environmental catastrophe was correct. Now that many companies are making sales again, the application has to be justified by a serious economic crisis. If the request is worded correctly, “the commission can approve it immediately.” EU Commissioner Margrethe Vestager also explained that to Finance Minister Gernot Blümel (ÖVP) on Friday.
In the morning, Selmayr said that a correct application should be submitted “in half an hour” with good will. “The BMF is in constant contact with the Commission and is still working on a quick solution in the interest of companies and jobs in Austria,” the Finance Ministry statement said.
The Austrian Ministry points out that different aspects of the fixed cost subsidy envisaged in Austria have to be applied for under different paragraphs of EU law and criticizes that this would be complicated and time consuming. In terms of content, the Austrians found that future aid of up to € 800,000 should be offset by other aid that is classified as “subsidies”, around 100 per cent guarantees or subsidies from the Länder. In total, all aid measures must not exceed 800,000 euros per company. Furthermore, the aid would initially only be approved until the end of the year, while the fixed cost grant II requested by Austria should apply until the end of March 2021. During the conversation, Selmayr also made it clear that there is no limit of € 800,000. for certain fully affected companies.
“We want to help our companies quickly and without bureaucracy, the Commission’s proposals are quite the opposite. With regard to European aid, the existing legal framework was designed to be as flexible as possible. aid to our companies, again there are rigid references to the paragraphs. Companies need planning and legal certainty beyond December 31, because the virus does not adhere to the Brussels guidelines on when it should end, “said Blümel.
“Blümel puts one serious mistake after another”
SPÖ economics spokesman Christoph Matznetter sees in Blümel if today’s news is “now a real danger for national companies”. The Commission has nothing to object to the financial aid itself, but to Blümel’s illicit reasoning, the Social Democrat said in a broadcast. “Finance Minister Blümel makes one serious mistake after another. National companies and their employees are damaged.”
Meanwhile, NEOS MEP Claudia Gamon demanded: “Finance Minister Blümel must stop his anti-European rhetoric and review his reasons for the fixed-cost subsidy so that the EU Commission can finally approve it.”
