Business aid: the details of the end of "whatever the cost"

From massive watering to hand-sewn. The government received this Monday morning the representatives of the various economic sectors affected by the crisis (hotels, cafes, restaurants, nightclubs, tourism, transport, theme parks, events, sports halls, mass distribution and shops in shopping centers. ) to formalize the change in government doctrine on aid to businesses. Bruno Le Maire, Minister of the Economy, had already announced the color at the opening of the University of Medef last week: “Now that the French economy is restarting, that we have growth prospects at 6%, whatever it is. 'it costs, it's over! We have gone to tailor-made. "

The solidarity fund will thus be extinguished at the end of September. By then, the compensation will be, as in August, up to 20% loss of turnover. To have access to it, a condition is added in order to avoid the windfall effects of business leaders who choose to remain deliberately closed: you must have made at least 15% of turnover over the month. “The objective is to encourage activity,” hammered Bruno Le Maire. In the same vein, the exemptions of charges are over.

"The health pass has no impact on economic activity," said Bruno Le Maire to justify this change of foot. The country's activity is running at 99%. "To confirm this, it is based on payment data by bank card: in bars and restaurants, they increased by 5% during the week of August 8 to 15 compared to the same week in 2019, and by 8%. % next week. On the other hand, all the support mechanisms are maintained in Overseas Territories because of the closure measures due to the health crisis.

From October 1, the fixed costs system will take over from the solidarity fund.

Already in force on March 31, in addition to the solidarity fund, it helped companies in the S1 and S1 bis sectors (hotels, restaurants, shopping malls, etc.) whose monthly turnover is greater than 1 million d 'euros.

The fixed cost system will henceforth be open to all businesses in the tourism sector, without exception.

It allows compensation of 90% of fixed costs not covered by revenue for companies with less than 50 employees and 70% for companies with more than 50 employees.

Specific assistance for events, travel agencies and the mountains

It must be said that the bill is already steep: 35 billion euros for partial unemployment, 35 billion for the solidarity fund for 2 million companies, 10 billion tax exemptions. Banks have also granted 160 billion euros in state guaranteed loans (PGE) to nearly 700,000 companies, which could constitute a time bomb in the event of massive bankruptcies. "80 billion euros in subsidies, 160 billion euros in loans, that's the bill for whatever it takes," Bruno Le Maire explained on Monday morning on France Inter. Difficult to sustain any longer while the public debt, at 2,380 billion euros at the end of 2019, increased by 15% to reach 2,739 billion euros in the first quarter of 2021.

"Certain structurally affected sectors will be the subject of action plans," nevertheless insisted on specifying the Minister of the Economy after the meeting with representatives of companies affected by the crisis. The events, travel agencies and mountain sectors have thus made proposals to the government which will be studied. A new appointment is set at the beginning of November to take stock of these new compensation terms.