In a decree published this Saturday in the Official Journal, the government specifies the eligibility criteria for the resilience plan to compensate for the rising costs of gas and electricity for companies particularly exposed to the consequences of the war in Ukraine.
The resilience plan was announced on March 16 but was not validated by the European Commission until June 30.
Companies will be able to submit their requests for “gas and electricity” emergency aid from July 4, the Ministry of the Economy specifies in a press release.
This aid “aims to support the competitiveness of companies and to avoid production stoppages at the sites that consume the most gas and electricity and, in particular, those providing essential production”, according to Bercy.
To be eligible, companies must have made gas and electricity purchases amounting to at least 3% of their turnover in 2021 and have suffered a doubling of the gas price per eligible period, from March to May 2022. on the one hand, from June to August 2022 on the other hand, compared to the average price over the year 2021.
Up to 50 million euros in aid
The amount of aid depends on the level of business operating losses.
It can go up to 50 million euros for companies in 26 industrial sectors including the steel industry, the manufacture of certain metals and glasses, that of a large number of chemical products, synthetic rubber or even paper pulp.
The aid criteria had been deemed "complex" by companies, Bercy reported after a meeting with employers' federations in early April.
The Ministry of Agriculture, for its part, announced in mid-June an envelope of 150 million euros dedicated to covering social security contributions for agricultural and fishing exports according to the resilience plan, to cushion inflation linked to the war in Ukraine.
The release of a first salvo of aid of more than 300 million euros for breeders and fish farmers was announced at the end of May.
