It was just over a week ago that a proud Federal Minister of Economics Peter Altmaier (CDU) appeared before the press.

The cabinet had agreed that the bridging aid for corona-damaged companies would not expire at the end of June as originally planned, but should continue until the end of September.

Even more: for some of the companies, government support will increase significantly again from July onwards.

Anyone who brings employees back from short-time working or hires them will now be reimbursed part of the additional personnel costs.

And solo self-employed people can look forward to a grant of 1,500 instead of 1,250 euros per month.

Julia Löhr

Business correspondent in Berlin.

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    The question of how that should be financed played only a subordinate role.

    Of the 65 billion euros earmarked for corona aid in the federal budget for this year, by far not all has been drained, argue both the economics and finance ministries.

    But that is exactly what is now evidently calling the countries to ask for a look-up as a precaution.

    105 billion euros have flowed in aid

    At their meeting on Friday, the state economics ministers demanded from the federal government that bridging aid III should be paid not only by the end of September but by the end of the year. Altmaier is definitely on their side. In the talks at the federal level, he had already advocated extending the aid until the end of the year so that it would not have to be decided again shortly before the federal election. Or, to put it more precisely: so that there is no need for a discussion in the election campaign that could cost votes. According to reports, Olaf Scholz's SPD-led finance ministry would only have agreed if the companies had been reimbursed the social security contributions for their employees on short-time work for as long. But that seemed a bit too generous to the CDU.

    "We will take a closer look at the situation," said Altmaier now. If an extension is necessary, it should be decided well before the federal election. So far, the government has transferred a total of 105 billion euros to companies, half of which is loans and half of grants The information relates to the entire time since the start of the pandemic, i.e. to this year and the previous year.

    Altmaier justified the extension until the end of September with the fact that business is not yet profitable for many companies due to the remaining corona restrictions. Some, such as the clubs, are still completely closed in most federal states. Trade fairs have also hardly been possible so far. The trade fair industry therefore also called for the corona aid to be extended until the end of the year on Friday. The situation of the companies is catastrophic, it said.