Hardly a day goes by without a federal state tightening its corona rules.

With each new regulation, worries among restaurateurs, retailers and cultural organizers grow.

After 2 G and 2 G plus in public life, will there soon be a lockdown for everyone, as is already the case in Austria?

Even the SPD health politician Karl Lauterbach still considers this to be “too early”.

But the past year and a half have also taught us how quickly the situation can change.

Julia Löhr

Business correspondent in Berlin.

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The federal cabinet therefore extended essential parts of the corona aid for the economy on Wednesday as part of its last official acts.

On the one hand, it approved a regulation by Federal Labor Minister Hubertus Heil (SPD), according to which easier access to short-time work applies until the end of March instead of just until the end of December.

The bridging aid for companies and the restart aid for solo self-employed, for which the Ministry of Economic Affairs is responsible, should continue until the end of March - at least.

Maximum aid limit increases for companies

The resolutions in detail: The current bridging aid III will become bridging aid IV at the turn of the year. Instead of up to 100 percent of the operational fixed costs up to now, however, a maximum of 90 percent of these costs will be reimbursed in the future. You are responding to criticism from the Federal Audit Office, said the Minister of Economic Affairs Peter Altmaier (CDU) on Wednesday.

At the same time, the maximum amount of aid that a single company can get has risen from the current 10 to 12 million euros. The EU Commission recently expanded the state aid framework accordingly. For operators of Christmas markets, there should be easier depreciation options for perishable goods. In addition, lower hurdles should apply to them for the equity grant, which is part of the bridging aid. For solo self-employed people without a fixed cost block, everything stays the same: You can continue to receive 1500 euros per month as part of the restart assistance. The economic stabilization fund, which mainly supports large companies, is also being extended. Until mid-2022, it was last said - according to Altmaier, the details have not yet been determined.

As far as short-time work is concerned, the previous regulations continue to apply: If at least 10 percent of employees go out of work, the company can register short-time work. Without easier access, the threshold would be a third. The access of temporary workers to short-time work will also be extended until the end of March 2022. Until then, the rule that the short-time allowance can be drawn for a period of up to 24 months also applies. The Federal Employment Agency (BA) will continue to reimburse companies with half of the social contributions for employees on short-time work.

"We put on the seat belt," said Altmaier.

He assumes that fewer companies will apply for state support in the future, but that individual companies will receive higher sums.

According to the ministry, almost 570,000 applications have so far been received for bridging aid III, which was introduced in December 2020.

Of the 35 billion euros applied for, a good 24 billion euros were paid out.

There have been almost 370,000 applications for the restart aid, 1.9 billion euros have been paid out for this so far.