After somewhat stormy arbitration meetings Thursday, September 24, the Ministry of the Economy finally ruled on new aid mechanisms for professionals affected by the tightened health protocol.
Read also: Covid-19: at the top of the state, erratic and ineffective communication
The ministers of Bercy - Bruno Le Maire for the Economy and Alain Griset, in charge of SMEs and VSEs - met throughout the day with representatives of the hotel-catering-bars, events and rooms sports facilities, located in “
heightened alert
” and “
maximum alert
”
zones
(the Aix-Marseille metropolis and Guadeloupe).
Restaurants and bars in the “
maximum alert
” zone
will simply have to close, while traders in the heightened alert zone will have to lower the curtain by 10 pm at the latest.
In the evening, Prime Minister Jean Castex, guest of the political program
You have the floor
on France 2, unveiled the main principles of this new financial aid.
"
It is because there is an accumulation effect that we are going to increase the aid to which you are entitled
", he insisted.
The tenant of Matignon has promised not to "
drop
" French workers, who fear cascading bankruptcies.
Exemption from social contributions and help to pay fixed charges
Companies impacted by the new round of sanitary screws will benefit from an exemption from social contributions due throughout the period of closure or time restriction.
A measure demanded in particular yesterday by the President of the Confederation of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (CPME) François Asselin.
"
We are three times more likely to be contaminated in a bar than elsewhere, twice as much in a restaurant
", justified the Prime Minister responding in turn to arrests of French and four mayors.
Faced with the resurgence of the epidemic, traders will also be able to benefit from aid ranging from 2,000 to 10,000 euros to pay their fixed charges.
Enhanced access to the Solidarity Fund
Bercy is also mobilizing the Solidarity Fund for companies (FSE), dedicated to the self-employed and very small structures, no longer up to 1,500 euros, but up to 10,000 euros for certain businesses, bars and restaurants during the closing period.
The envelope dedicated to the Solidarity Fund, accessible until the end of the year, is around 8 billion euros.
As a reminder, level one of the solidarity fund has already concerned some 1.7 million entrepreneurs, who have received a maximum of 1,500 euros.
And according to the Ministry of the Economy, level two of this fund has already benefited 32,000 companies.
Bercy is currently working on administrative simplification, requested by employers' organizations and unions, in order to facilitate access to level two of the solidarity fund.
To read also: "It's catastrophic": bars and restaurants in shock after the announcements of Olivier Véran
Partial activity at no cost to the employer
Affected businesses will also have the possibility of using the partial activity mechanism “at
no cost to the employer
”.
In other words, they will benefit from a 100% reimbursement by the state of the sums paid to workers on short-time work, while this reimbursement was capped at 85% from the end of October.
For partial activity, the State has planned a budget of nearly 31 billion euros.
Finally, the sectors affected by the health measures retain access to existing aid mechanisms, such as the loan guaranteed by the State (PGE).
The EMPs, granted since the end of March by banks to more than 570,000 companies, for an amount of nearly 120 billion euros, have made it possible to meet the most urgent needs.
In France, the budget dedicated to the EMP is 300 billion euros and it is open until December 31.
Repayments will take place at the beginning of April 2021.
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