The Government approved a decree last March by which it transferred to autonomies 7,000 million euros destined direct aid to companies and autonomous to alleviate the effects of the economic crisis caused by the Covid. A year later, the Executive of Pedro Sánchez will find that one third will return to the hacienda coffers. The requirements imposed and difficulties in processing, transferred to communities, have reduced the level of execution of these funds, which has barely reached 65% in some territories. In others it has not received 50% of the amounts assigned in the distribution.
This is the case of the Valencian Community, where the so-called plan to resist and resist Plus have distributed 312 million euros to 16,250 companies and autonomous, only 48% of the 647 million contributed by the Government. Three calls have been necessary for the execution of the plan, as well as the contracting of the public company tragsa to be able to manage them.
Between the first and second, 235 million were granted and in the last of December, already with the flexibilization of some requirement made by the hacienda, 76.5 million more. Something that the Hacienda Conforter himself, Vicent Soler, considers insufficient to compensate for the productive tissue hit by the crisis, hence he has requested that the deadline to ask for aid until next June 30. For soler, one of the causes for which there are no more beneficiaries is the existence of "strict criteria in the Royal Decree", which the Valencian Community tried to make maximum within the state framework.
These aids were conceived only for companies, with a maximum of 200,000 euros, and autonomous, up to 3,000, sectors such as tourism, hospitality or trade that would not have had losses in 2019 and whose turnover had fallen by 30% as a direct consequence of the pandemic. The funds could not be allocated to the payment of debts with social security or with hacienda, one of the main complaints of the autonomous. Its purpose was, mainly, suppliers, supplies, rentals or loans. After the autonomies expanded the sectors, the criterion of not having had losses in 2019 disappeared and fixed costs were imputed. Even so, aids have not had the impact sought.
What happened in the Valencian Community is not an exception. Autonomies such as Aragon, Castilla-La Mancha, Murcia or Asturias maintain a level of execution of these funds below half. Also Galicia, which has launched four calls to grant 234.4 million granted by the Government and has barely managed 6,000 requests that do not cover 50%.
The Community of Madrid, Catalonia and La Rioja exceed 65%, while Andalusia stays at 54%, with 600 million disbursed from the 1,109 granted. The exceptions have been Balearic and Canary Islands. By its particular link with tourism, the Government reserved 2,000 of the 7,000 million to these two autonomies and expanded up to five million euros the aid that employers could request.
In the case of Balearic, 100% of the 855 million assigned have reached those affected by aid. Canary Islands, which received 1.144, Round 80% in execution.
In addition to the strict requirements and the administrative bureaucracy of processing, one of the main problems presented by these aid for its design is that they were designed only for companies that were not aware of the payment of their debts, with which they were excluded All those who made an effort during the worst months of the pandemic to deal with their financial obligations.
The aid could only be allocated to the payment of debts and fixed cost-pending costs that had been accrued between March 1, 2020 and May 31, 2021.
This nuance, which came to light when the rule was published, led many communities to complain about the design and to warn now, in April last year, that part of the funds would not execute. In addition, by his writing, the rule seemed to encourage companies to stop paying their debts to be able to access aid, they warned some autonomies.
"The purpose of the aid seems aimed at the creditors who charge, so that it discriminates the companies that have complied with payments in time and form, favoring those who have not done it and keep the debt. Future payment requirements And priority, in addition to complexes, are hardly understood and justifiable, "he denounced the Junta de Andalucía.
The distribution system used to distribute the funds destined for aid among the Autonomous Communities was also the subject of controversy, since the Government took into account by 66% the impact of the pandemic in the wealth of the communities, and in a 33 % Evolution of employment and, specifically, of youth unemployment. The situation that crossed the productive tissue of each community was not valued, which the aid would finally be directed.
According to this criterion for the distribution of 5,000 million, Andalusia was the community that received a greater amount of funds (1,109 million), followed by Catalonia (993 million), the Community of Madrid and the Valencian Community (both with 647 million) .
The autonomous cities of Ceuta and Melilla (13 and 12 million, respectively), La Rioja (32 million), Cantabria (55 million) and the Farm Community of Navarra (67 million) were the least received.
The 2,000 million for the archipelagos were distributed so that Balearicos perceived 855 million and Canary Islands, 1,144 million.
Date Of Update: 06 January 2022, 22:24
