Next week the platform opens for additional first aid up to 10,000 euros where Kyriakos Mitsotakis announced on SKAI 100.3 radio.

The Ministry of Climate Crisis and Civil Protection and especially the General Secretariat for the Rehabilitation of Natural Disasters and State Aid has activated the implementation of the state aid framework for businesses, agricultural holdings and livestock units from the first moments, which also includes the first round of first aid against the final grant.

During the first round of first aid 33.9 million euros have already been granted to 16,400 farms and livestock units that applied for first aid through the arogi.gov.gr platform and were confirmed by the data of the damage declaration to ELGA, with payments being completed in the next period.

Following the first cycle, a second cycle of first aid to agricultural holdings and livestock units follows for the areas affected by the extreme flooding events of September 2023 in Thessaly and other areas. During the second round, interested parties will have the opportunity through the first aid platform, arogi.gov.gr, to submit their (revised or new) request in case they judge that they have very serious or very serious damage to equipment, in raw materials, in stored products, in damaged vehicles and in land capital. Specifically, in addition to the first aid they have received to date Beneficiaries will be able to submit the relevant request for:

  • Additional first aid of 5,000 euros in cases where they judge that they have suffered very serious damage to the items included in the state aid.
  • Additional first aid of 10,000 euros in cases where they judge that they have suffered very serious damage to the items included in the state aid.

The second round of first aid will begin early next weekand so the first aid platform, arogi.gov.gr, will be openedin a context of close cooperation with the Independent Public Revenue Authority, and the beneficiaries will submit their requests, for which a cross-checking process will follow with the authorities of the Region of Thessaly and the Region of Central Greece, the committees and levels of which implement the scheme of state aid.

It is noted that the implementation of the state aid framework for agricultural holdings and livestock units continues normally by the services and echelons of the Regions under the coordination and cooperation of the Ministry of Climate Crisis and Civil Protection, with the aim of the state aid – amounting to 70% of the estimated damage – reaching those who are entitled to it as soon as possible. In this direction and with a permanent aim of speeding up the procedures, farmers and breeders are requested to submit the relevant files to the authorities in the Region of Thessaly and in the Region of Central Greece by February 29, 2024, so that to be able to launch all the procedures for the payment of both the advance payment and the final grant in the context of the state aid.

It is worth noting that, according to the data of the Region of Thessaly and until last week, 4,400 files have been submitted by the beneficiary farmers and breeders to the authorities of the Region of Thessaly in a total of approximately 31,000 damage declarations submitted through ELGA in the Region of Thessaly. This is a number of submitted files that correspond to only 14% of the relevant damage declarations in Thessaly, while approximately 20% of the submitted files were filed during the past week. Therefore, taking into account the limited number of submitted files, the second, enhanced, round of first aid is launched to further support farmers in the areas affected by the extreme flooding events of September 2023.

The Ministry of Climate Crisis and Civil Protection continues, with the same intensive rhythms, the implementation of the state aid framework for agricultural holdings and livestock units affected by the unprecedented flooding phenomena in close and effective cooperation with the Region of Thessaly and the Region of Central Greece to support and strengthen the farmers of the region.