The European Commission has approved a Slovenian €900 million scheme to cover part of the uncovered fixed costs of companies affected by the coronavirus outbreak. The scheme was approved under the State aid Temporary Framework.
Under the scheme, the public support, which will take the form of direct grants, will be open to all companies, irrespective of their size and of the sector where they operate (with the exception of financial institutions), which have suffered a decline of at least 30% in their revenue in the period between October and December 2020 compared to the same period in 2019.
The support will help the beneficiaries to cover part of their uncovered fixed costs for the period between October and December 2020. More specifically:
- Companies registered before 1 October 2019 will be eligible to receive aid for 70% (90% in case of micro and small companies) of their fixed costs that are not covered by revenues, up to a maximum of € 3 million per undertaking.
- Companies registered from 1 October 2019 until 1 September 2020 will be eligible to receive support for an amount of up to €100,000 per undertaking for companies active in the primary agricultural sector, €120,000 for company active in the fishery and aquaculture sector and €800,000 for companies active in all other sectors.
The scheme aims at helping the beneficiaries address the shortage or even unavailability of liquidity they are facing, due to the suspension or reduction of their business activity in the context of the coronavirus outbreak.
The Commission found that the Slovenian scheme is in line with the conditions set out in the Temporary Framework.
In particular, for companies registered before October 2019, the amount of the aid will not exceed 70% of the uncovered fixed costs, except for micro and small companies, where the aid intensity will not exceed 90% of the uncovered fixed costs and will not exceed €3 million per undertaking.
For companies registered before October 2019 and September 2020, the aid will not exceed the ceilings set out in the Temporary Framework.
For all beneficiaries, the support will be granted until no later than 30 June 2021 and the aid will be granted only to companies that were not considered to be in difficulty on 31 December 2019, with the exception of micro and small companies that are eligible even if already in difficulty.
Finally, Slovenia will ensure that the rules for cumulation of aid provided under the Temporary Framework are respected across all measures. ■