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Under current law, after a state of emergency or quarantine, a self-employed person affected by a pandemic receives a benefit of € 257 until the end of the pandemic and for two months thereafter.
The self-employed can claim a benefit of € 257 for a full month if they meet three conditions: their activity is registered for at least 3 months. Before the publication of the quarantine, the remuneration received under the employment contract or equivalent legal relationship does not exceed 607 euros “on paper” and, if it is a legal person, it cannot be declared bankrupt or liquidated. The benefit is granted by the Employment Service and paid for by Sodra.
It is paid monthly as long as the emergency and quarantine are in effect. At the end of the quarantine, the benefit is paid for another two months, after which the payment stops.
In the new bill, the governments propose not to pay this benefit for an additional two months when the emergency or quarantine ends and to terminate the payment immediately after the end of the emergency, and only those that will be included in the list of affected activities published by the STI.
The Ministry of Social Security and Labor, which drafted the reforms to the law, reported that the current procedure for the payment of benefits for the self-employed is not adapted to the current circumstances, since the payment of the benefit is linked only to the quarantine regime and not to economic restrictions.
“When the government does not impose restrictions on activities, it would be wrong to pay benefits because people can continue to be self-employed and earn an income. The benefits must be paid to those who are experiencing hardship due to government-imposed restrictions.
In other words, we want support to be more specific and reach those who are suffering. Once the quarantine is finished, the payment of the benefit would not continue for the same reason, in the absence of activity restrictions, it is not convenient to provide support, “the ministry explained.
During the government meeting, the minister, Linas Kukuraitis, said that the amendments were drawn up in order to exclude the groups for which, due to an emergency or quarantine, operational restrictions will be imposed and who will be able to receive benefits for the self-employed.
The Minister of Agriculture, Andrius Palionis, indicated that according to the proposed procedure, residents whose activities will be included in the list of affected activities prepared by the State Fiscal Inspection may receive benefits. However, some farmers, he said, are affected, but their activities are not included in that list.
“The basic philosophy of managing this crisis should be, as we agreed from the beginning, solidarity. For some time, the state can horizontally encourage virtually everyone. But it can only be done for a short time to have time to restructure, adapt, find new markets, niches, or perhaps move to other sectors.
From now on, that help should really be just one point, where it’s the direct restrictions that really affect them. We have discussed it, we have agreed on that principle, ”said Finance Minister Vilius Šapoka.
He suggested that the list of affected activities be established by the entire government and not by various ministries.
At that time, Minister of Economy and Innovation Rimantas Sinkevičius pointed out that not all sectors suffer in the same way. For example, restaurants or hotels in Palanga may not have suffered as much as elsewhere.
According to the Ministry of Social Security and Labor, since March, more than 100,000. the self-employed applied for benefits. In total, they were paid more than 112 million. euros.
Other amendments propose limiting the eligibility of benefits to those who will be included in a special list of victims based on the activities affected.
For the new provisions of the law to take effect, they still need to be approved by the Seimas and signed by the President.
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