“Strengthening the Establishment and Operation of New Small and Medium Enterprises”: The first Funding Approvals for the Action
The first (1st) Decision to Approve Evaluation Results was published in the context of the Action “Strengthening the Establishment and Operation of New Small and Medium Enterprises”, which concerns applications submitted to the Transition Regions (Attica and South Aegean). According to the Decision, of the 1,072 applications submitted to the Transition Regions, with a requested subsidized budget of 171,497,647.60 euros and a requested public expenditure of 86,901,426.12] euros, four hundred were approved ninety-seven (497) funding applications, with a total subsidized budget of 82,545,123.72 euro and public expenditure 41,851,263.97 euro.
Furthermore, fifty-eight (58) applications of a total subsidized budget of 9,806,626.25 euros are rejected, with a public expenditure of 5,015,292.90 euros due to the exhaustion of the budget of the Regions in Transition, as well as five hundred and seventeen (517) applications of a total subsidized budget of 79,145,897.63 euros, with a public expenditure of 40,034,869.25 euros due to incompleteness of the required supporting documents for participation and/or formal conditions, according to the recommendations of the evaluation committees, as reflected in the relevant fields of OPSKE, or because they resigned before the their evaluation or due to accumulation during the pre-accession control stage.
Beneficiaries are informed electronically, at the electronic contact address (email) stated in the submission form, through Integrated Information System of State Aid (OPSKE).
The interested parties may, within a disruptive period of ten (10) days from the day after the notification of the results of the Decision on Approval of Results, submit an administrative appeal (an open appeal within the meaning of Article 25 of Law 2690/1999) exclusively through OPSKE.
See the relevant Decision here.
Action «Strengthening the Establishment and Operation of New Small and Medium Enterprises»
H Action “Strengthening the Establishment and Operation of New Small and Medium Enterprises”, concerns the reinforcement of investment plans under establishment and SMEs (except for the KAD of retail trade, of focus and tourism), which will invest their own resources in the activity they intend to carry out and create new jobs.
Budget
The Action’s budget amounts to 190,000,000 euros.
The Action is co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) of the European Union and by National Participation.
The minimum and maximum subsidized budget of the investment projects is from 30,000 euros up to 400,000 euros.
The rate of support for funding applications is uniform for all eligible costs of the investment projects and amounts to 45% of the subsidized budget.
The rate of the grant may be increased by:
- 10% if the investment is made in a remote or fire-prone or flood-prone area or small islands
- an additional 5% with the declaration when submitting the financing application of the goal of employing at least 1 FME, in the first year after the completion of the investment
Beneficiaries of the Action
Beneficiaries of the Action are:
Established and newly established Very Small, Small, and <a … ELECTIVE ACTIVITIES (KAD)).
Category A. Under establishment. Businesses that will be established from the date of issue of the Notice of Action until the first disbursement of the grant and will be active exclusively in eligible KAD(s), throughout the implementation of the investment plan and until the investment is repaid, according to Appendix II ELIGIBLE ACTIVITIES (KAD).
Category B. Newly established. The term newly established is defined as businesses for which 12 months of continuous operation has not passed (12 months have not passed from the date of the start of the business in the AADE until the date of the announcement of the Action). It is noted that they should be active exclusively in eligible KAD of the Action when submitting the funding application, throughout the implementation of the investment plan and until the investment is repaid.
It is clarified that companies must have the investment KAD before the first disbursement.
Beneficiaries must, among others, meet the following eligibility conditions:
- The proposed investment plan must concern at least one of the eligible KADs of APPENDIX II ELIGIBLE FIELDS OF ACTIVITY (KAD), which the company should have before the first disbursement of the grant
- Submit a single funding application per VAT number in this Action
- Gain at least a grade of 70 during the self-evaluation of the investment plan based on the criteria of Annex III
It should be noted that it is not permissible to submit the financing application to OPSKE if the above condition is not met - Declare as a place/places for the implementation of the actions of this Action exclusively in one Region of the Country and in its regions where the same intensity of aid applies. The Region in which the investment project will be carried out is stated in the financing application. It is clarified that the company can implement expenses at the headquarters of the company and/or in its branches, as long as all the points of implementation belong to the same region and the areas / places of implementation have the same intensity of support. Plans located in the Regional Unit of Mykonos and the Regional Unit of Thira, in the Municipality of Thira, except for the Municipal Community of Thira, are excluded, as detailed in Section 2.2 REGIONS OF IMPLEMENTATION OF THE ACTION.
- Provide evidence of securing the Private Participation of the proposed investment project at a rate of at least 60%
The overall conditions for the participation of the beneficiaries are presented in detail in the Call for Action.