The procedure is well practiced: Stricter corona requirements for the economy are always accompanied by the promise of generous financial help in the pandemic.

It has now reached the sum of 127.6 billion euros.

This tried and tested procedure was continued on Thursday: "2 G" is flanked this time by "Ü4": The new bridging aid IV is to replace its predecessor III plus and compensate for losses by the end of March 2022.

Corinna Budras

Business correspondent in Berlin.

  • Follow I follow

The promise of further support is intended to sweeten the burdens of the companies through a comprehensive 2-G rule.

From Flensburg to Berchtesgaden, only vaccinated or recovered people will be allowed to enter the shops, regardless of how high the local incidence is.

Just as reliably, however, the following day there was a protest that the aid was insufficient.

The trade association HDE has been sounding the alarm for days, after all, online retailers are tempted by the important Christmas business.

In view of the fact that around 20 percent of people in Germany do not yet have complete vaccination protection, the lobby association expects that “considerable sales shares” will be transferred to the Internet.

The trade association expects intervention by the federal government

"The federal government must now consistently absorb the impending losses at many stationary retailers", demands HDE managing director Stephan Genth.

The previous fixed cost subsidies were nowhere near enough.

"If things are not delivered quickly now, we will see further desertification in many inner cities."

The President of the German Association of Tax Advisors, Torsten Lüth, warns: Many entrepreneurs are already considering whether they should simply shut down for economic reasons - at least temporarily even without an imposed lockdown, he told the FAZ Lüth, while praising the “clear commitment of politics” further help and the delay that his guild received when submitting the application.

The application deadline for Bridging Aid III Plus with the funding period July to December 2021 has been extended to March 31.

But he also considers the overall support to be insufficient: "Since the gastronomy and culture in particular depend on the outdoor areas and thus ultimately on the weather and spring, an extension of Bridging Aid IV to April or May should be considered," he said.

Help cannot cushion all damage

The background to the demands are the restrictions to which state aid is subject. They cannot cushion the entire damage, but are tied to certain conditions: For example, there must still be a corona-related decline in sales of 30 percent compared to the reference period 2019. That is too demanding for the HDE, it is calling for a reduction to 15 percent, because the margins in retail are much lower than in other industries.

The eligible fixed costs of the new bridging aid amount to a maximum of 90 percent.

In addition, companies that are particularly hard hit by closings can receive an additional equity grant.

This includes showmen, market people and private organizers who are now suffering from the fact that many Christmas markets had to be canceled at short notice.

The restart assistance will continue for solo self-employed persons.

The state is also helping out with loans longer than previously planned: the special program of the state-owned KfW Bank will be extended until April 30th.

The credit limits have been raised from a maximum of 1.8 million euros to 2.3 million euros.

In the past 20 months, KfW has committed loans with a total volume of more than 54 billion euros.

Within the retail sector, the crisis is affecting the sectors very differently

In the different industries, however, the burdens are also perceived differently.

While bookstores and clothing stores complain that they are now having to pay for the federal government's failed vaccination management through cumbersome 2-G checks at the entrance door, restaurants and cafés are apparently now getting along well with the stipulation that they are only allowed to serve people who have recovered and who have been vaccinated.

In any case, the hotel and catering association Dehoga reports from a survey in which 60 percent of the companies would have no problems with it.

On the other hand, the additional tests required by the 2-G plus rule are more onerous.

The association warned that short-time working benefits and the reimbursement of social security contributions were particularly relevant for this industry and insisted on further support.

According to the Federal Employment Agency, around 24 billion euros in short-time work benefits and around 18 billion euros for accompanying social benefits have been spent in the past two years, so a total of around 42 billion euros.