Sluggish corona aid - the craftsman's president sounds the alarm: "We are receiving calls for desperate help"

For many companies, the situation is getting worse because of the ongoing lockdown.

Business associations are calling for faster help.

• In the fight against the

  corona

  pandemic, the federal government has promised billions in aid for ailing companies.

• But the process is considered

  bureaucratic

  , and payments are often a long time coming.

• Displeasure is growing in the economy

  .

• Many companies are now struggling to

  survive

  .

Update from January 13th, 11.09 a.m.:

The criticism of the economy of the state Corona aid is getting louder.

The announcement by the federal government to "help suffering companies quickly, in solidarity and unbureaucratically", turned out to be "an empty promise," said the federal manager of the Federal Association of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises,

Markus Jerger

on Wednesday.

Anger is also growing in the trades.

"The aids that have been widely heralded as bazooka aids must finally reach the companies and must not be slowed down by bureaucracy," demanded craftsman Hans Peter Wollseifer.

“We receive a lot of desperate calls for help from business owners who no longer know how to keep their costs and operations running and who, given the abundance and differences in access requirements and application paths, simply lose track of things.

It urgently needs to become less bureaucratic, uniform and reliable, ”said Wollseifer.

It was only on Tuesday that the trade association sharply criticized the sluggish corona aid.

"The finance minister's bazooka has so far remained a huge blow for the retail trade," said managing director 

Stefan Genth,

 opposite 

Merkur.de *

. 

Corona help: Tax consultants expect extreme correction efforts

The surprising change in the application requirements for state bridging aid is causing great displeasure.

Many companies are now threatened with significantly lower payouts or even repayments.

The

German Association of Tax Advisors

warns of a huge correction effort: "I assume that because of the new fixed cost rule 80 percent to 90 percent of all applications for bridging aid will have to be tackled again," said Association President

Harald Elster of

the "Welt".

Only recently, after consultation with the EU Commission, the Federal Ministry of Economics had made it clear that bridging aid should only be a contribution to the uncovered fixed costs.

Regulations for bridging aid II have been adjusted due to EU state aid law.

According to the Ministry of Economic Affairs, “uncovered fixed costs” are a prerequisite for the granting of subsidies - in other words, for costs that a company cannot cover with the income it still has.

"Scholz 'Bazooka makes Piffpaff": Retail horrified - the widely announced Corona aid only "blown fire"

First report from January 12, 4:31 p.m.

- When it comes to PR with oomph, Federal Finance Minister

Olaf Scholz

* (

SPD

)

lets it

crash.

In the fight against the economic consequences of the

Corona

* pandemic, the SPD

candidate for Chancellor announced

publicly in the spring, "the

bazooka

" had been pulled out.

A good three quarters of a year later, there is not much left of the armed rhetoric of departure.

“

Olaf Scholz's

bazooka 

 is currently becoming a children's birthday pistol that doesn't bang, but whistles,” said the deputy head of the FDP parliamentary group,

Alexander Lambsdorff

, on

Twitter

on Tuesday

.

The bazooka only had an impact “in the capital's media, but not in companies”.

One sees it similarly in the business associations.

“The aid just doesn't get through to our companies.

The application is far too bureaucratic, "said the President of the German Craftsmen,

Hans Peter Wollseifer

, the" Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger ".

HDE: The finance minister's bazooka remains a bummer

The trade is also going tough with Scholz, who had just promised an improvement in the Corona crisis before the federal election in September.

"The finance minister's bazooka has so far been a huge blow for the retail trade," said the general manager of the trade association,

Stefan Genth,

on Tuesday to

Merkur.de *

.

The application criteria are "much too high in detail and also a faulty design that ignores practice," criticized Genth.

Every day now counts when fighting the pandemic.

For many businesses in the stationary retail trade, the situation is now "dramatic".

According to a recent

HDE

survey, every second retailer affected by the lockdown fears that they will not survive the current year without further government aid.

For many retail companies and entire city centers, 2021 threatens to be “a year of disaster,” warned Genth.

Nationwide, 50,000 shops with a total of around 250,000 employees are threatened in their existence.

Corona aid: So far, barely ten percent of the aid has been given

It cannot be due to a lack of funds.

The federal government has made available a total of 30 billion euros for November and December to combat the

Corona

exitus.

But so far

only 1.2 billion euros have been paid out

for the

November

aid.

The IT of the federal government simply couldn't keep up with the programming, criticized the economic policy spokesman for the FDP parliamentary group,

Reinhard Houben

.

A change in the application conditions for November and December aid is causing new problems.

After that, bridging aid is only available if a company has made a loss, for example because it has very high fixed costs to cope with.

Previously, it was sufficient if a company had to cope with a decline in sales when applying.

With the change, the federal government reacted to a corresponding review of state aid by the EU Commission.

Changed Corona aid: In the worst case, companies now have to pay back money

This can have dire consequences for companies.

Especially for small and medium-sized companies, the aid could now turn out to be significantly smaller than expected.

In the worst case - tax advisors warn - companies are now even threatened with repayments. 

* Merkur.de is part of the Ippen-Digital network.