- Title: 234 AT COVID-19 Finance Minister
- Date: 20th April 2020
- Description:Austrian Finance Minister Gernot Blümel calls for temporary suspension of EU state aid law amid coronavirus crisis Austrian Finance Minister called for temporary suspension of EU state aid law amid coronavirus crisis. This should make it possible for state aid to be granted to domestic companies without the EU's approval. Austria has many EU-wide measures to support states with high public debt in the crisis, for example the EU plan for short-time work. EU state aid law aims to prevent distortions of competition within the EU. The subject is therefore the control of national subsidy and support measures in favor of companies. If activities distort competition and intergovernmental trade can be adversely affected, these are generally prohibited. The demand was made "by Austria", Blümel said when asked whether other countries would also ask for the suspension of the state aid law. Other states could join. So far, every country has had to clarify much of its aid with the EU Commission. The question of the period for which the suspension will be requested remained open. According to the Minister for Economic Affairs, SMEs are the largest employers in Austria. Around two million people are employed there. It was only on Friday that the EU Commission approved the 100 percent loan guarantees for SMEs in Europe. Such full state guarantees are possible for loans up to 500,000 euros. So far, the Ministry of Finance has approved 1.8 billion euros in guarantees. In Austria, the government announced the "second phase" of the 38 billion euro financial protection umbrella to mitigate the economic consequences of the pandemic. Upper earnings limits should drop, additional income is no longer a problem, according to Blümel, multiple insurance is now also possible. The Federal Government also plans to provide up to 6,000 euros for self-employed people. From now on, freelancers, artists and young start-ups can apply for a grant from the hardship fund. In this edit: soundbite of the Minister of Finance Shotlist - SOUNDBITE (German) Gernot Blümel, Austrian Finance Minister: "For example, the US-American-British think tank "deep knowledge group" ranked Austria on the fifth place among other countries in terms of the coronavirus safety, and within the EU we are on the second place among the most supportive governments, which shows that we are really exhausting all options here as quickly as possible and help unbureaucratically. Overall, solidarity in Europe is a much discussed topic and a very important one. And the EU finance minister has shown in very long, long meetings that we want to help each other here, above all those countries that have very high levels of debt, that are under pressure on capital markets and that the other countries are helping in solidarity. But it is important for me to say that this solidarity should not be a "one-way street", we also want to be able to show solidarity with our own companies and therefore we demand that we use the times of crisis in solidarity - in so far as we suspend the EU state aid regime for the time being." - WS News conference, speakers leaving
- Collection: ORF
- Genre:News
- Producer:ORF
- Transmission Date:20/04/2020
- Decade: 2020s