• EU funds 2022. On Friday 3.05.2022/61/2022, Ordinance XNUMX/XNUMX was published in the Official Gazette regarding the granting of micro-grants and working capital grants for farmers and entrepreneurs in the agri-food sector.
Compared to the proposals initiated by the relevant ministry, the Government is making some changes to the granting of micro-grants and working capital grants of 5.000-120.000 euros for farmers and entrepreneurs in the agri-food sector. Thus the final form of OUG 61 / 2022 was published on Friday 3.05.2022.
The registration date has already been set, as follows:
- May 26th 2022 – Measure 2, working capital grants of 5.000-120.000 euros each for micro-enterprises and small and medium-sized companies. Total budget: 250 million euros to reach approximately 10.000 beneficiaries. The Ministry of Entrepreneurship and Tourism (MAT) is in charge of implementing the measure.
- May 27th 2022 – Measure 1, micro-grants of 5.000 euros each for SRL without employees on December 31, 2019, as well as for PFA, II, IF from the eligible sectors. The measure's budget is 50 million euros, money that reaches 10.000 beneficiaries. Here, the Ministry of Agriculture is the one that administers the measure, although, in the GEO project, and in Measure 1, MAT also appears as the implementer.
Registrations will continue to be made on the IMM Recover platform for both measures.
The changes brought to the draft Ordinance
In GEO 61/2022, the main changes compared to the originally published draft ordinance are the following:
For Microgrants of 5.000 euros:
– Expenditures made from micro-grants must be related to the activities/sub-activities of the CAEN code for which funding was requested.
– The Ministry of Agriculture (MADR) was introduced as implementers, in partnership with the Payments and Intervention Agency for Agriculture. The Ministry of Agriculture, in partnership with APIA, makes the payments to the bank accounts indicated by the beneficiaries of the micro-grant state aid within a maximum of 15 calendar days after the account is filled and the payment is approved.
– The deadline of February 1, 2020 by which PFA, II, IF had to have carried out current/operational activity was changed. Thus, all microgrant applicants must have carried out current/operational activity for a period of at least 3 calendar months before December 31, 2019.
For working capital grants of 5.000-120.000 euros:
– Eligibility condition: the CAEN REV 2 code for which state aid is requested was authorized according to the legal provisions in force on December 31, 2019.
– The turnover thresholds for which the value of the granted grant is determined have been changed, as follows:
a) for SMEs with a 2019 turnover between 5.000 and 33.350 euros, the amount of the grant is 5.000 euros;
b) for SMEs with a 2019 turnover of more than 33.350 euros, the amount of the grant can be 15% of the turnover and cannot exceed the amount of 120.000 euros.
– The Ministry of Entrepreneurship and its Agencies for IMM (AIPPIMM) remain implementers. The partner banks from the COVID grants for SMEs opened in 2020 (through GEO 130/2020) will continue to be partner banks for the working capital grants for the agri-food sector and there will not be a new bank selection session. MAT will conclude additional documents to the collaboration agreements with the selected banks for the implementation of the measures stipulated in the Government Emergency Ordinance no. 130/2020, approved with amendments and additions by Law no. 220/2020, for carrying out the operations of making payments to the beneficiaries of the working capital scheme. Commissions, interest, taxes, as well as any other bank charges are the sole responsibility of the beneficiary of working capital grants.
In both measures:
– For both support measures, the exchange rate used is the info/euro rate for May 2022, respectively 1 euro = 4,9479 RON.
- Also, in addition to the payment of debts to the state budget, debts to local budgets were also included in the eligible expenses from the micro-grant and from the grant.
– Beneficiaries can use grants and microgrants to support eligible expenses committed after February 1, 2020.
– The funds related to the support measures are paid after checking the conditions for the accumulation of state aid, based on the self-responsible declaration of the beneficiary of state aid, provided that they fall within the ceilings mentioned by the Temporary COVID-19 Framework, respectively of 345.000 euros for each enterprise operating in the fishing and aquaculture sector, 290.000 euros for each enterprise operating in the field of primary production of agricultural products, respectively 2.300.000 euros for each enterprise operating in the other fields of activity.
Article written by Gabriela Dan, Editor of Arta Albă
Read on White Art and: European Funds 2022 – aid for agriculture and the food industry
