Due to the planned opening steps, most of the Corona economic aid will expire at the end of March, as Finance Minister Brunner announced.
The government announced far-reaching opening steps last week. From March 5th, almost all corona measures should be dropped. With these planned opening steps, most of the Corona economic aid will expire at the end of March, as Finance Minister Magnus Brunner (ÖVP) announced on Monday.
Exceptions for discos and city hotels
Exceptions are sectors that are particularly affected by the pandemic, such as city hotels, night catering and aviation. “Of course you have to look at the situation individually.” Where there is still a need for help, one is “open to talks”. The short-time work transition model with a reduced subsidy amount, on the other hand, will run until the end of June.
Brunner now wants to “follow sustainable budget paths” and reduce debt. The Corona short-time work model was reformed in mid-2021, and since then two different models can be applied for. On the one hand there is an unchanged variant for companies that are particularly affected until the end of March 2022 and on the other hand there is a transitional model with a reduced amount of support until the end of June 2022. Companies can currently receive a maximum of two years in Corona short-time work subsidies.
Paid out ten billion euros
COFAG, the federal government’s Covid-19 financing agency, has so far paid out around ten billion euros in economic aid such as sales compensation, cancellation bonuses 1, 2 and 3, loss compensation and fixed cost subsidies. According to the federal states, companies in Vienna (1.53 billion euros) and in Tyrol (1.16 billion euros) received the most money. They are followed by Salzburg (805.1 million euros), Lower Austria (722.5 million euros), Upper Austria (698.8 million euros), Styria (667.3 million euros), Vorarlberg (292.9 million euros), Carinthia (290.4 million euros) and Burgenland (127.2 million euros), reports “orf.at”.
Changes are now pending at COFAG. In the future, violations by companies of the Covid-19 funding provisions should be automatically and retrospectively reported by the district authorities to COFAG or the processing agency as of November 1, 2021.
The data exchange is to be made possible with the Covid-19 Compliance Act, an amendment to the Transparency Database Act 2012. If there are violations and a sponsored black sheep is fined, the aid for the month in which the violation took place is also reclaimed.