On Monday 16 May, the European Commission authorised a €2 billion Greek investment aid scheme to promote a sustainable recovery. The scheme was approved under the State aid Temporary Framework.
The aid will take the form of soft loans and will be used to finance investments in tangible and intangible assets to facilitate the development of economic activities under the strategic pillars of the Greek Recovery and Resilience Plan: the green transition, digitalisation and innovation (R&D).
Greece will ensure that the investments financed are environmentally sustainable, in line with the EU taxonomy.
Public support will be subject to conditions in order to limit undue distortions of competition, including safeguards to limit the risk of possible indirect aid to the financial intermediaries channelling the aid. The amount of individual aid will not, in principle, exceed €15 million per beneficiary. Some 250 companies are expected to benefit from the aid.
This is considered to be in line with the conditions of the Temporary Framework: - the amount of aid per beneficiary will not exceed 1% of the total budget; - the aid will favour investments in tangible and intangible assets, not financial investments; - Interest rates for loans will respect the minimum levels (of the Temporary Framework); - the public support will be granted by 31 December 2022 at the latest. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)