Eurofound's COVID-19 EU PolicyWatch collates information on the responses of government and social partners to the crisis, as well as gathering examples of company practices aimed at mitigating the social and economic impacts.
Factsheet for case EE-2020-20/962 – Updated – measures in Estonia
Country | Estonia , applies nationwide |
Time period | Temporary, 11 May 2020 – 31 December 2020 |
Type | Legislations or other statutory regulations |
Category |
Supporting businesses to stay afloat
– Direct subsidies (full or partial) |
Author | Ingel Kadarik (Praxis Center for Policy Studies) and Eurofound |
Case created | 10 July 2020 (updated 11 January 2021) |
In tourism, accommodation and food, and commerce sectors, several companies were in difficult financial situation due to the COVID-19 related containment measures resulting in significant or total loss of income. With the adoption of the supplementary state budget on 15 April 2020, the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communication supports those companies via Enterprise Estonia (EAS), a state-founded foundation which aims at developing the Estonian economy.
In May and June 2020, Enterprise Estonia provided seven different grants to partially compensate the losses due to the COVID-19 outbreak of:
Each grant has its own eligibility criteria and terms and conditions. Overall, the amount of the grant per company could be between €2,000 and €60,000, depending on the specific grant. For compensation of the rental fee, the minimum amount was €100. The total budget allocated to compensate the losses was €36.5 million.
The following updates to this measure have been made after it came into effect.
30 December 2020 |
On 30 December, it was decided via EAS that additional funds to acommodation companies, travel companies, restaurants in the capital's old town and to handicraft and souvenier stores will be allocated in the first quarter of 2021 after receiving state aid permission from the European Commission. The Government will allocate €5 million from its reserve and the unused funds from application rounds in Spring will also be used for this measure. The total budget is therefore €9.9 million. |
22 October 2020 |
As the initial budget allocated for these measures was not entirely used, the Government decided on 8 October 2020 that the unused finances (€5.8 million) will be allocated to tourism sector, of which €200,000 will be allocated to the organisers of international concerts to cover their losses. The other target groups are companies of accommodation, attractions, tourism services, international transport servises and travel and guides. The support per company will be between €2,000 and €60,000, while for guides and tourism services there will be flat grants of €3,000 and €5000, depending on their turnover and for transport services the support can be up to €200,000 per company. The specific terms and conditions will be developed by the support providers (Enterprise Estonia, Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communication, and Ministry of Culture) by, probably, November 2020. |
5,938 applications were submitted to EAS. Altogether 3,839 applications were approved in the total amount of €30.2 million. The application round for the additional support introduced in the update was open between 27 November and 8 December. Altogether 211 companies received the support in the total amount of €2.1 million.
Workers | Businesses | Citizens |
---|---|---|
Does not apply to workers |
Sector specific set of companies
SMEs One person or microenterprises |
Does not apply to citizens |
Actors | Funding |
---|---|
National government
Public support service providers |
National funds
|
Social partners' role in designing the measure and form of involvement:
Trade unions | Employers' organisations | |
---|---|---|
Role | No involvement as case not in social partner domain | Consulted |
Form | Not applicable | Any other form of consultation, institutionalised (as stable working groups or committees) or informal |
Social partners' role in the implementation, monitoring and assessment phase:
A number of different sectoral social partners were involved – they proactively provided their opinions and suggestions, which also received written feedback from the Ministry. Instead of peak-level social partners, they were concentrated more on sectoral social partners.
No information.
This case is sector-specific
Economic area | Sector (NACE level 2) |
---|---|
G - Wholesale And Retail Trade; Repair Of Motor Vehicles And Motorcycles | G46 Wholesale trade, except of motor vehicles and motorcycles |
G47 Retail trade, except of motor vehicles and motorcycles | |
I - Accommodation And Food Service Activities | I55 Accommodation |
I56 Food and beverage service activities | |
N - Administrative And Support Service Activities | N79 Travel agency, tour operator and other reservation service and related activities |
This case is not occupation-specific.
Citation
Eurofound (2020), Grants for SMEs and entrepreneurs in tourism, accommodation, catering, travel and commerce sectors, case EE-2020-20/962 (measures in Estonia), COVID-19 EU PolicyWatch, Dublin, http://eurofound.link/covid19eupolicywatch
Disclaimer: This information has not been subject to the full Eurofound evaluation, editorial and publication process. All information is preliminary and subject to change.