The European Commission sent, on 27 March, to Member States for consultation, a draft to extend the State Aid Temporary Framework adopted on 19 March 2020 to support the economy in the context of the coronavirus outbreak.
The Commission has already taken 14 State Aid decisions based on this Temporary Framework, validating 22 national measures providing European companies with liquidity in these difficult times.
It proposes to add five new aid measures to the list of possible support under the Temporary Framework. Member States are being consulted and the aim is to have the amended Temporary Framework in place next week.
Ms Margrethe Vestager, Executive Vice President in charge of competition policy, said: “We intend to enable Member States to support companies that develop, test and produce much needed products to fight the coronavirus, such as vaccines, medical devices and protective equipment”.
The five proposed measures are: - increased support for coronavirus related research and development to address the crisis; - more support for the construction and upgrading of testing facilities for products relevant to tackle COVID-19 (vaccines, medical equipment or devices, protective material and disinfectants); - more support for the production of relevant products (vaccines, etc.); - targeted support in the form of deferral of tax payments and/or suspensions of employers' social security contributions to help avoid lay-offs due to the crisis in specific regions or sectors that are hardest hit by the outbreak; - targeted support in the form of wage subsidies for employees to help avoid lay-offs due to the crisis in specific regions or sectors hit hardest by the outbreak.
The Commission has decided to temporarily remove all countries from the list of 'marketable risk' countries under the Short-term export-credit Communication (see EUROPE 12456/3). (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)