Some owners have claimed and received assistance in good faith for several of their limited liability companies. However, the EU made it clear that only one application per group of companies would be allowed. Millions of redemptions are now threatened. Behind the scenes, negotiations with the Commission are still ongoing.
About 900 companies have received an explosive letter from Cofag. It concerns the Corona aid they have already received and – in many cases – already need and spend. The point is that only one application per “group of companies” would be allowed. The EU pointed this out to Austria last year.
However, many companies have applied separately for several GmbHs (with similar or identical owners) and received multiple payments. If you add these together, you will quickly exceed the maximum limits. That was, for example, 800,000 euros for the fixed cost subsidy I, while the maximum compensation was 12 million euros.
Cofag’s letter states: “Please note that a possible consequence of these discussions may be a correction of grants already disbursed that exceed maximum amounts at group level.”
Each branch has its own GmbH
The Cofag tools are published in the transparency database: the most prominent case is the Mediamarkt chain, as each of its affiliates is a private company and has therefore submitted numerous applications. Gastronomy families and many travel agencies are also affected: “We have different branches, most of which run through our own companies. We have applied for financing in good faith, we have had really terrible times,” explains industry spokesman Gregor Kadanka. If she had to pay back part of that now, it would cost some larger companies millions in damages.
Cofag director Ulrich Zafoschnig is still waiting with the repayments, which will emerge in talks between the Ministry of Finance and the European Commission. It is being negotiated whether it is possible to reallocate the aid in such a way that higher upper limits apply to those affected (for example, for loss compensation). If that does not work, many small and medium-sized companies will have a major financial problem.
Source: Krone
I’m Ben Stock, a journalist and author at Today Times Live. I specialize in economic news and have been working in the news industry for over five years. My experience spans from local journalism to international business reporting. In my career I’ve had the opportunity to interview some of the world’s leading economists and financial experts, giving me an insight into global trends that is unique among journalists.
