Background information

The Joint Decision of the Greek Ministries of Finance, Development and Investment of 2 April 2020 sets a €1 billion aid scheme to support companies affected by the COVID-19 outbreak. The scheme was approved under the State aid Temporary Framework adopted by the European Commission on 19 March 2020, as amended on 3 April 2020. The goal of the measure is to sustain companies which saw their business affected and impaired by the provisions adopted to face the pandemic and by their consequential socio-economic effects.

(JMD, OJ 1135/Β/02.04.2020)

Content of measure

The measure provides companies with a cash advance financed by the Greek State amounting to €1 billion in total. The funds will be provided via the 'taxis' information system as a tax-free amount, which will not be able to be offset or confiscated.

This measure is addressed to small and medium enterprises of all economic sectors, that have their seat or permanent establishment in Greece, and employ at least 1 and a maximum of 500 employees, in order to deal with the specific issues that such enterprises face in terms of accessibility to credit. Private companies (general and limited liability companies, limited liability companies and private capital companies) that do not employee personnel, regardless their sector, are also eligible for the return on their advance payments.

The advance will be refunded to the Greek State within the next five years, either in total or partially, depending on the viability of each enterprise. The first year is a grace period and there is no obligation to any repayment, which will take place in equal monthly installments within the remaining four years by applying an extremely low interest rate.

Use of measure

According to the data of the Ministry of Finance, until March 7, 2021, the results of the measure show that:

1. In the first round of the Reimbursable Advance payment, 52,490 professionals and companies were supported with the amount of €601,813 million.
2. In the second round, 89,732 beneficiaries were supported with the amount of €1.259 billion.
3. In the third round, 101,522 beneficiaries were supported with the amount of €1,510 billion.
4. In the fourth round, the aid reached €2.174 billion for 447,041 businesses and professionals.
5. In the fifth round, the amount of aid was €1.225 billion for 359,691 professionals and companies.
6. In the sixth round, the beneficiaries were 286,181 professionals and companies with an amount of €500 million.

The total amount given as support for the 6 rounds is estimated at €7.3 billion. Regarding the number of beneficiaries and businesses, and up to the fifth round of the measure, they were 544,591, of which a large percentage participated in 2 or more rounds.

For the 7th round of the Reimbursable Advance, the estimates of the Ministry of Finance, refer to an amount of €200 million to be given in order to increase the total number of beneficiaries up to 300,000 as is the target, while the total amount distributed to reach €1 billion.

Target groups

Workers	Businesses	Citizens
Does not apply to workers	Applies to all businesses	Does not apply to citizens

Actors and funding

Actors	Funding
National government EU (Council, EC, EP)	European Funds National funds

Social partners

Social partners' role in designing the measure and form of involvement:

	Trade unions	Employers' organisations
Role	No involvement	No involvement
Form	Not applicable	Not applicable

Social partners' role in the implementation, monitoring and assessment phase:

• No involvement
• Main level of involvement: Unknown

Involvement

There is no involvment

Views and reactions

The employers organizations of SMEs (GSEVEE and ESEE) criticized the content of the repayable state cash measure and asked for the introduction of different eligibility conditions in the programme (for example the abolition of limits as concern the preservation of the 50% of the employees, the restoration of electronic platform malfunctions, the extension of time limits for inclusion in the programme) and generally the adoption of additional measures to support enterprises.

Sources

• 07 April 2020: State aid: Commission approves €1 billion Greek scheme providing repayable advances to support the economy in the coronavirus outbreak (ec.europa.eu)
• 07 March 2021: Repayable Advance: Aid of EUR 7.3 billion euro (Epistreptea Prokatavoli: Enishisis 7,3 dis.evro) (m.naftemporiki.gr)
• 11 May 2021: End of time for the Repayable state (Telos hronou gia tin epistreptea prokatavoli 7) (www.aftodioikisi.gr)
• 29 July 2021: AADE Instructions for use (AADE Odigies Hrisis-Epistreptea Prokatavoli (www.aade.gr)