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Shop in Stolberg: Bankruptcies of actually healthy companies should be prevented
Photo: Hans-Jürgen Serwe / imago images
Originally, the obligation to file for insolvency for companies damaged by the July flood was to be suspended until the end of October.
Now, however, these should be freed from it for a longer period of time.
The parliamentary groups of the Union and the SPD have agreed on this, said the SPD legal expert Johannes Fechner - and thus confirmed a report by the »Handelsblatt«.
Specifically, the regulation will be extended until the end of January 2022, originally a possible extension was only planned until the end of March.
Companies affected by the flood are now no longer obliged to file for insolvency in the event of impending insolvency.
In addition, the possibility is given to extend this period to the end of April without further approval from Parliament.
"We want to give companies that have suffered severe damage an alternative to going to the bankruptcy court," said Fechner.
Parliament still has to agree
The corresponding regulation still has to be decided by the Bundestag.
The first reading is scheduled for the special session on Wednesday next week.
It is unclear whether the law will be passed on the same day or not until another plenary session on September 7th.
Companies that are unable to pay usually have to file for bankruptcy within three weeks.
A period of six weeks applies to companies that are over-indebted.
With retroactive effect from July 10th, this obligation is now to be suspended in order to prevent the bankruptcy of actually healthy companies.
The federal government has already had extensive experience of suspending the obligation to submit applications during the corona crisis.
In this way, a wave of bankruptcies was prevented in the pandemic - in the worst case, however, already ailing companies are artificially kept alive.
In the event of the flood, help should only be available to companies with “viable and successful business models” - and which would not be threatened with bankruptcy without the heavy rain and floods.
The federal government and the federal states agreed last week to set up a EUR 30 billion aid fund for those who had been damaged by the flood disaster.
fdi / dpa