THE EUROPEAN Commission (EC) has approved the Slovak scheme of temporary state support with the aim of providing help of up to €500,000 to individual businesses, the Slovak Investment and Trade Development Agency (SARIO) said, as reported by the TASR newswire.
“The scheme of state support will make it possible to soften the difficulties which Slovak businesses hit by the current financial crisis face without interfering in economic competition,” Neelie Kroes, the European Commissioner for Competition, said, TASR reported.
According to the measure, recently approved by the EC, businesses that face financial problems due to reduced access to loans will in 2009 and 2010 be eligible to ask for state support of up to €500,000. The scheme only applies to businesses that weren’t in trouble before July 1, 2008. The form of financial help includes grants and forgiveness of penalties for not paying taxes. According to the scheme, financial help can be provided in limited volumes until December 31, 2010.
SARIO has not yet published the complete text of the measure since some confidential matters are still being dealt with, it said.
