A “tailor-made” device, measured reactions. The sectors most concerned for eighteen months by “whatever the cost” have, on the whole, accepted without flinching the gradual extinction of the solidarity fund. All the more easily since the drying up of the government drinking trough had been announced before the summer and that a safety net is maintained.
The extension until the end of September of the solidarity fund, although in its most restrictive version – compensation of only 20% of the loss of turnover, an insufficient figure in the eyes of Travel Companies (EDV) -, is a relief for those, many, who anticipated a shutdown on August 31st. ” Satisfied “, Didier Chenet, president of the National Group of Independent Hotel and Restaurant Industry, is almost surprised that the decisions announced by Bruno Le Maire did not require further negotiations. The one month extension of the solidarity fund ” will allow hotel and restaurant businesses to breathe a new lease of life “, he believes.
Avoid the “windfall effect”
September should give the measure of the resumption of the activity in a daily newspaper which associates the sanitary pass and the gradual return to work, after a successful summer in the traditional tourist areas, but still difficult in the cities. The government wants to encourage Parisian hoteliers and nightclub managers – three quarters of which remained closed this summer – to reopen despite persistent difficulties: to receive aid in September, a minimum of 15% of turnover will be required, in order to avoid what Bruno Le Maire describes as a “Windfall effect”.
For companies in sectors S1 and S1 bis whose activity remains permanently affected – events, nightclubs, travel, tourism in Ile-de-France, in particular – the government will maintain the reimbursement of fixed costs. For this aid, Bercy granted a long-standing request: remove the floor – it was reserved for companies with a turnover of 1 million euros per month – and the ceiling – the total subsidies could not , over time, exceed 1.8 million euros.
“This is the important point for us, because many companies in our sector have already achieved it”, explains Renaud Hamaide, President of the French Union of Event Trades. For travel agents distributing the products of large tour operators, it is the floor of 1 million euros that prevented access to aid.
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