European Commission approves Employment Maintenance Program II amounting to 35 million Euros - Communication

Secretaria Regional das Finanças, Planeamento e Administração Pública

The European Commission approved today the Employment Maintenance Programme II with an allocation of 35 million Euros, ensuring its compliance with European rules on state aid to companies.

The Employment Maintenance Programme II is a regional programme aimed at supporting companies in the context of the covid-19 pandemic, with a view to promoting the employment levels of companies based in the Region.

As part of this measure, beneficiary companies may convert part of the loan granted through the covid-19 lines of credit into a non-refundable subsidy in accordance with the maintenance of the employment level.

The amount of the support corresponds to a base value multiplied by a factor dependent on the maintenance of the employment level as well as on the size of the beneficiary company.  The base amount of support corresponds to six months of the regional minimum wage for each job maintained between September 2020 and June 30, 2021.  As regards the employment maintenance factor, a factor of 100% will be applied to the base value in the case of companies maintaining 100% of the employment level, 75% for companies maintaining the employment level at 85% or more and 50% for companies maintaining the employment level at 75% or more.  As for the company size factor, a factor of 85% will be applied to the base value in the case of micro companies, 60% for small and medium companies and 45% for large companies. 

In the case of an eligible micro company that has benefited from credit operations in the context of the covid-19 financing lines and maintained all jobs, the amount of support will correspond to 85% of six months of the regional minimum wage for each job maintained.

With this measure, which allows the conversion of part of the covid-19 loan into a non-refundable subsidy, companies will have access to immediate liquidity, through loans whose repayment is co-financed with significant allocations for the beneficiaries contributing the most to the maintenance of employment.

The Employment Maintenance Programme II includes a wide range of measures to support the economy with the aim of maintaining economic confidence, productive capacity and employment in this period preceding economic recovery. It is a joint effort undertaken with social partners and business associations, along with national and European institutions.

Detailed information on this measure is available on the COVID-19 pandemic additional business support page at: https://portal.azores.gov.pt/web/draic/apoios-covid19.

For further information, please contact the Regional Directorate for Support to the Investment and Competitiveness at [email protected] or by telephone 296 309 100.