By Christian Krämer, Andreas Rinke
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Berlin (Reuters) – Well meant, but badly implemented: More and more companies are in urgent need of help because of the government-imposed restrictions in the coronavirus crisis, but they cannot get the money.
The government promised that the November aid should be quick and unbureaucratic. But of the prospect of 15 billion euros, only around 450 million have been paid out. Companies complain of too much bureaucracy, while the federal and state governments blame each other for the misery.
From the point of view of the digital association Bitkom, it is already clear that the public administration is far too unfashionable to cope with the current challenges. This must be digitized quickly and comprehensively. “The corona pandemic made it clear to us what deficits we still have in digitization in Germany,” says Bitkom CEO Bernhard Rohleder. “In a survey, 92 percent of the companies that applied for some form of state corona aid complained that there were technical problems with the application. Only every second person was able to process the application completely digitally. “
The FDP also complains about the grand coalition, which is fighting the consequences of the pandemic with huge sums of money. “It cannot be that it then fails because of the technology,” says the Deputy Leader of the Liberals in the Bundestag, Christian Dürr. That is an indictment for the government. “Many companies are facing the end.”
PROBLEMS WITH THE SOFTWARE
Federal Minister of Economics Peter Altmaier had promised first installments at the end of November for the November aid – compensation for lost sales in companies that were forcibly closed – and the entire aid “a few weeks” later. But most recently it was announced that nothing will happen with the final payouts before January. According to the Ministry of Economic Affairs, the software is currently being worked on at full speed for the regular procedure. The federal states would have liked to use the tax offices for the payments. However, the legal basis for this is missing, as is the appropriate IT infrastructure.
The result is mutual accusations. Berlin’s Senator for Economic Affairs Ramona Pop says she is surprised that it will now last until January. In addition, advance payments that have been requested cannot be increased, which is a problem. A high-ranking representative of the federal states added that the federal government had not done its homework. The sales compensation for November is much too generous and therefore unfair to other companies in many cases.
MERKEL PROTECTS ALTMAIER
The federal government has already responded to the criticism. According to government circles, the down payments will be increased from a maximum of 10,000 euros to up to 50,000 euros. The Federal Ministry of Economics in Berlin emphasizes that the federal states are actually responsible for the payments. “The fact that the down payments are made through the federal treasury is a key consideration for the federal states.” Three out of four applications from companies have already been paid out. Administrative agreements with the federal states have so far only existed for November, but not for the December aid, which is supposed to pay out another 15 billion euros for lost sales. There is also no administrative agreement with the 16 federal states for bridging aid III, which is intended to make more extensive fixed-cost subsidies possible from January onwards.
Chancellor Angela Merkel takes her CDU party friend Altmaier under protection. He took over what was actually the task of the federal states. “He then showed us that what is done in Germany is 45 pages full of procedures that now have to be implemented, and of course that has to be done with a certain amount of care. The programmers are working flat out. “
But in the end it could be too late: “For many companies it is already ‘5 to 12′”, warns Hans-Jürgen Völz from the BVMW SME Association. “Political announcements must finally be followed by action.” Because the pressure is getting bigger and bigger, also because further aid is to follow in December, but for which no applications can yet be made. And by January at the latest, there is a threat of even stricter corona restrictions – with the affected companies likely to need more help.
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