Background information

The Ministry of Development & Investment on April 2021 announced a new programme for the provision of working capital to catering companies.

The new action is part of the support of small and medium-sized enterprises in the catering sector after the restart of their operation, under the pandemic of COVID-19 disease and includes the supply of raw materials, necessary for the first 2-3 months of restarting their operation.

The action is a non-repayable grant in the form of working capital, is financed through the NSRF 2021 - 2027 and the projected budget of the action is €330 million.

The Financing Application is submitted electronically on the platform of the State Aid Information System (PSKE) www.ependyseis.gr/mis.

The deadline for applications is from 14 May 2021 to 30 September 2021.

Content of measure

According to the requirements of the programme for the provision of working capital to catering companies:

• Beneficiaries of the financing are Catering Companies, regardless of their legal form.
• The amount of the financial aid can correspond to a maximum of 7% of the annual turnover of the year 2019.
• The programme finances exclusively the expenses of the companies for the supply of raw materials from 1 April 2021 onwards.
• The payable grant as working capital for the supply of raw materials must have been spent from the date of commencement of the expenditure financing and until 31 December 2021.
• The maximum grant can be €100,000.
• From the total national budget of €330 million, €280 million will be given to Small and Medium Enterprises and €50 million to large Enterprises.
• The financing covers up to 70% of the total value of the purchases.
• The Action is co-financed by the European Regional Fund Development (ERDF) of the European Union and from national resources.

Use of measure

According to the Ministry of Development & Investment on third of August 2021, more than 29,000 enterprises in the catering sector applied to the programme until the end of July, with the application budget exceeding €270 million.

9,884 companies have already joined (€98,830,222) and more than €25 million have been disbursed.

Target groups

Workers	Businesses	Citizens
Does not apply to workers	Sector specific set of companies SMEs One person or microenterprises	Does not apply to citizens

Actors and funding

Actors	Funding
Company / Companies	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: N/A

Involvement

There is no any involvement of social partners.

Views and reactions

According to press reports on 6 June 2021, the President of GSEVEE, George Kavvathas stated that one in four companies did not open until that date, due to lack of outdoor space for putting table seats, while this figure includes businesses that operate seasonally in tourist destinations. The permanent closures throughout the country in the catering sector amount to 1000, while the final toll should be made after the end of the tourist season.

Also, according to the President of GSEVEE, by the beginning of June 2021, about 30,000 companies had applied to join the programme and approx. 10,000 had passed the evaluation stage. The programme is estimated to cover 63% of the approx. 77,000 companies operating in the catering sector. A percentage of 30-34% of the companies who have an increase in turnover between 2019-2020, will not be able to apply. Of the remaining 52,000 or so companies, 34,000-35,000 will be able to receive a subsidy, i.e. the potential beneficiaries are the 63% of the companies, which present a turnover reduction from 0.1% up to 100%.

Sectors and occupations

This case is not occupation-specific.

Sources

• 06 June 2021: Didn't open 1 in 4 businesses of catering - 1,000 padlocks across the country (Den anixe mia stis tesseris epihirisis estiasis (www.typosthes.gr)
• 03 August 2021: Perissoteres apo 29000 epihirisis ypevalan aitisi sti drasi epenekkinisi estiasi (www.mindev.gov.gr)