European Foundation
for the Improvement of
Living and Working Conditions

The tripartite EU agency providing knowledge to assist
in the development of better social, employment and
work-related policies

EU PolicyWatch

Database of national-level policy measures

Eurofound's EU PolicyWatch collates information on the responses of government and social partners to the COVID-19 crisis, the war in Ukraine, rising inflation, as well as gathering examples of company practices aimed at mitigating the social and economic impacts.

Factsheet for measure PL-2021-1/1640 – Updated – measures in Poland

Financial Shield 2.0: Small and medium-sized enterprises

Tarcza Finansowa 2.0: małe i średnie przedsiębiorstwa

Country Poland , applies nationwide
Time period Temporary, 01 January 2021 – 28 February 2021
Context COVID-19
Type Legislations or other statutory regulations
Category Supporting businesses to stay afloat
– Direct subsidies (full or partial) or damage compensation
Author Jan Czarzasty (Warsaw School of Economics)
Measure added 31 December 2020 (updated 29 September 2023)

Background information

After the Financial Shield 1.0 was impelemented from April 2020 onwards see case PL-2020-20/806 as the follow-up programme has been devised.

Just like to original regulation, the follow-up is based on the Act amending the Act on the System of Development Institutions facilitating public support programme commonly referred to as the Financial Shield, operated by the Polish Development Fund (Polski Fundusz Rozwoju). The programme is divided into specific sub-sets of measures targeting 1) micro, small and medium firms and 2) large firms. The former is further divided into two segments a) micro firms and b) small and medium firms.

Content of measure

The main characteristics of the measure are as follows:

  1. Target: enterprises with 10 to 249 employees and and a turnover of less than €50 million or a balance sheet total of less than €43 million, operating in 38 industries subject to restrictions from the Polish Classification of Activities (PKD);
  2. Conditions of eligibility: decrease in turnover by at least 30% in the period April-December-or in the 4th quarter of 2020 compared to the same period in 2019.

  3. Further conditions:

  4. subsidy is paid in the amount of 70% of the gross loss (before tax) of the enterprise for the period from November 2020 to March 2021 (January-March 2021 based on forecasts);

  5. maximum amount of the subsidy is PLN 3.5 million and not more than PLN 72,000 per employee;
  6. foreseen allocation is PLN 6.5 billion (for the whole Financial Shield);
  7. subsidies will be released between 15 January and 28 February 2021;
  8. applications can be submitted electronically at 18 banks.

Updates

The following updates to this measure have been made after it came into effect.

21 May 2021

The application window remained opened until the end of February 2021.

07 January 2021

Seven more branches were added to the list, making the number to rise to 45 from the initial 38.

Use of measure

Not known yet.

Target groups

Workers Businesses Citizens
Does not apply to workers SMEs
Larger corporations
Does not apply to citizens

Actors and funding

Actors Funding
National government
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

None.

Views and reactions

The views are predominantly critical. Social partners see the measures as not adequate.

Sectors and occupations

This case is not occupation-specific.

Sources

Citation

Eurofound (2020), Financial Shield 2.0: Small and medium-sized enterprises, measure PL-2021-1/1640 (measures in Poland), EU PolicyWatch, Dublin, https://static.eurofound.europa.eu/covid19db/cases/PL-2021-1_1640.html

Share

Eurofound publications based on EU PolicyWatch

30 January 2023

 

Measures to lessen the impact of the inflation and energy crisis on citizens

Governments across the EU continue to implement policies to support citizens and businesses in the face of rising food and energy prices caused by the COVID-19 crisis and intensified by the war in Ukraine. This article summarises the policy responses as reported in Eurofound's EU PolicyWatch database from January to September 2022.

Article

12 September 2022

 

First responses to cushion the impact of inflation on citizens

Although the worldwide pandemic situation had already disrupted supply chains and triggered increases in energy and food prices in 2021, the situation deteriorated in 2022 with the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Article

12 September 2022

 

Policies to support EU companies affected by the war in Ukraine

This article summarises the first policy responses that governments across the EU have started to implement to support companies affected by the rising prices, and those with commercial ties to Ukraine, Russia or Belarus.

Article

5 July 2022

 

Policies to support refugees from Ukraine

This article summarises the first policy responses of EU Member States, including those of the social partners and other civil society actors, enabling refugees to exercise their rights under the Temporary Protection Directive.

Article

Disclaimer: This information has not been subject to the full Eurofound evaluation, editorial and publication process.