Greens call for moratorium on reclaiming corona money

The Greens in the Saxon state parliament are calling for a moratorium on reclaiming emergency coronavirus aid. The parliamentary group justified a motion that is now to be discussed with the minority coalition via the so-called consultation mechanism. The AfD and the Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW) had previously made further demands in this direction.

Saxony should make use of all discretionary powers

"I expect the state government to finally take up our initiative and listen to the many voices of entrepreneurs," emphasized MP Wolfram Günther. The state must exhaust all discretionary powers in order to ease the situation of those affected. "It is unacceptable for blanket recovery procedures to jeopardize livelihoods and cause lasting damage to the economic diversity of our country."

"It should be in all our interests not only to avoid numerous insolvencies, but also to strengthen confidence in the state's ability to act and its fairness. However, the current situation requires immediate action," argued Günther. He therefore supports the chambers' call for a moratorium on payments until the political decision-making process has been completed.

The Ministry of Economic Affairs recently stated in a response to a minor question from the BSW that more than 66,000 companies had already been contacted to take part in the "feedback procedure" for the aid. They must declare the extent to which subsidies were actually required at the time. If, contrary to expectations, income was higher than expenditure, the money is to be repaid.

Many companies voluntarily repaid coronavirus aid

According to the Ministry of Economic Affairs, more than 13,600 recipients of the coronavirus subsidy had made voluntary repayments by the end of March 2024. A further 2,550 or so repayments were made following reclaims in the context of audits, for example due to criminal charges. The recipients were aware that the grants could only be used to compensate for the economic bottlenecks directly caused by the coronavirus pandemic during the affected period.