On Wednesday 28 September, the European Commission approved a €700 million Italian scheme to support companies in the context of Russia’s war against Ukraine. This public support was approved under the State aid Temporary Crisis Framework, adopted by the Commission on 23 March and amended at the end of July.
The measure will be open to small and medium-sized enterprises and mid-cap companies (entities with less than 1,500 employees) active in all sectors affected by the current geopolitical crisis and related sanctions (except companies active in the production of agricultural products, fisheries, aquaculture, banking and financial sectors).
The aid will be open to companies of which the average total turnover abroad in the years 2019, 2020 and 2021 is at least 10% of their average total turnover in the same years. To be eligible, Italian companies must also count Ukraine, Russia or Belarus as suppliers for certain portions of their total supplies and foresee, for fiscal year 2022, either an increase in the average unit cost of supplies; or a reduction in quantities of supplies from the same countries of at least 20%, compared to the average recorded in 2019, 2020 and 2021. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)