The state parliament Greens and the medium-sized business association BVMW are demanding “fair solutions” from the state government in dealing with Corona emergency aid. Many self-employed people and small business owners assumed that the aid would not have to be paid back, according to an association announcement sent out on Wednesday. But since autumn 2022, repayment demands have been made – and in some places interest on them. “People from Lower Franconia who received emergency aid now have to pay interest on the amount of aid they received,” Green state parliament member Sanne Kurz is quoted as saying. “But not the people in Middle Franconia.” For her, it was “unbelievable” that the administrative districts followed different rules. The medium-sized business association BVMW makes a similar statement. He points out that lawsuits against the repayment of Corona emergency aid are pending in Bavaria.
The Corona emergency aid was intended to cushion pandemic-related losses in spring 2020. It is quite common for unneeded aid funds to have to be paid back later; Nevertheless, the state government had originally ruled out a nationwide re-registration process. However – to put it simply – the federal government did not agree to this. Bavaria therefore wrote to emergency aid recipients to report and repay any overcompensation. After criticism, the Ministry of Economic Affairs extended the deadline until the end of 2023, among other things. This only partially assuaged the frustration in the economy.
The state parliament Greens had previously called for a way out of the “muddle of special routes, chaos and uncertainty”. The BVMW considers the legal situation to be unclear anyway. Until a decision on the lawsuits has been made, the state government should “generally refrain from making repayments so as not to drive the administrative burden into limitless circumstances.” Otherwise, they would “gamble away people’s trust in state institutions.”