A total of 3,629,936 euros was paid this week (from Monday, August 5 to today, Friday, August 9, 2024) as an advance payment of 50% of the state aid grant, to 247 businesses, agricultural holdings and livestock units, which were affected by the extreme flooding phenomena of September 2023, following the submission of said data by the committees and state aid levels of the Regions.

As announced by the Ministry of Climate Crisis and Civil Protection, with the above payment, a total of 65,410,492 euros have been paid, as an advance payment, to 8,318 beneficiaries.

At the same time, in 5,162 cases of businesses, agricultural holdings and livestock units, the first aid of a total amount of 16,618,000.00 euros, which had been granted, was offset against the amount corresponding to the amount of the advance payment of 50% of the state aid grant.

Therefore, the phase of granting the advance payment of 50% of the state aid to businesses, agricultural holdings and livestock units has been completed for 13,480 beneficiaries with the total amount of the grant reaching 82,028,492 euros.

It should be noted that in total, within the framework of first aid, both for first aid against a subsidy, and first aid against housing assistance, but also compensation for household goods, 182.7 million euros have been paid to 50,561 cases of beneficiaries. Therefore, taking into account the amounts of advances, a total of 248 million euros have been paid from the state aid framework to approximately 58,878 cases of beneficiaries.

“Until now, the process of advance payment of 50% of the state aid for 13,480 businesses and farmers, an advance payment corresponding to 82 million euros, after the floods of 2023, has been completed. Therefore, the work of the ministry’s services continues intensively in close cooperation with the committees and levels of state aid of the Regions” noted the Deputy Minister of Climate Crisis and Civil Protection, responsible for recovery from natural disasters and state aid, Christos Triandopoulos and added: “The result of this cooperation is – even though the burden is great – to achieve times far removed from the past. Thus, within one week, on average, of the submission of the integrated data for enterprises and agricultural holdings by the services of the Regions, 50% of the intended grant of the state aid is paid».

As for the Region of Thessaly, as Mr. Triandopoulos said, “through continuous cooperation, to date, the advance payment process has been completed for 80% of the cases for which information has been submitted to the ministry” and he added that in particular, the percentage for businesses is 94%, while for agricultural holdings it is 71%, as after the amendment of the institutional framework for granting advances to non-professional farmers, the submitted increased from the Region data in the last few days.

“For the next few days, therefore, the payment has been launched for these cases as well – with the completion by the Region of the process of submitting the data for them. It is worth noting that as far as businesses are concerned, the process has been completed for 74% of the files submitted by those interested in the Region of Thessaly. Finally, it should be noted that the Region of Thessaly requested the transition from the procedure of the advance payment of 50% of the state aid, to the process of paying the final grant of the state aid. That is, if a beneficiary has already received 50% of the state aid, the process continues for the remaining 50% of the state aid. And in case he has not received the advance payment, then the procedure will proceed for 100% of the state aid which corresponds to 70% of the estimated damage and can reach up to 500,000 euros. The crucial thing, in any case, is for the interested parties, whether businessmen or farmers, to be in contact with the committees and state aid levels of the Region and to provide the few documents provided for the relevant procedures to proceed. We continue to cooperate all together“, underlined Mr. Triandopoulos.

As emphasized in a relevant announcement, the Ministry of Climate Crisis and Civil Protection continues unabated, in cooperation with the Region of Thessaly and the Region of Central Greece, the implementation of the framework of state aid to businesses affected by the extreme flooding phenomena of September 2023 , as well as to agricultural holdings and livestock units for their damage to their equipment, their foundations, land capital and other related from the same natural disasters.

Therefore, as pointed out in the announcement, the General Secretariat for Natural Disaster Recovery and State Aid, in a context of close cooperation with the committees and levels of state aid of the Region of Thessaly and the Region of Central Greece, continues the implementation of the state aid framework.

The framework includes (a) the grant of the first aid, (b) the grant of the advance payment of 50% of the state aid (incorporating the first aid granted), and (c) the grant of the final grant of the state aid (incorporating the advance granted), which reaches 70% of the estimated damage with a maximum limit of 500,000 euros.

Thus, following the granting of the first aid to businesses, agricultural holdings and livestock units affected by the unprecedented flooding phenomena, the granting of the advance payment of 50% of the state aid grant will proceed from December 2023 and will begin in the next period and the payment of the final grant.