The Government approved this Monday in the Council of Ministers a new aid program to combat the consequences caused by DANA. In total, the measures will cost 3.765 million euros. The extension of ERTE to all companies which, although not located in the affected municipalities, have seen their activity seriously damaged by DANA, stands out.
This was announced by Pedro Sánchez, President of the Government, at the end of the meeting of the Council of Ministers. The leader of the Executive indicated that the new royal decree includes 110 additional measurements to deal with the disaster caused by DANA. These will be in addition to the 10.6 billion euro first aid plan approved last week.
“The Spanish government, like the whole of Spanish society, is and will be alongside the people of Valencia as long as it is necessary,” underlined the head of the Executive. According to Sánchez himself, the social shield will protect 400,000 workers to maintain their income30,000 businesses to “reactivate their activity” and 100,000 households to “cover their essential needs”.
In terms of work, the new royal decree provides for a strengthening of temporary work regulation files (ERTE) so that they can request it all companies which, even if they are not established in the affected municipalities, have seen their activity “seriously damaged”.
It is also equates temporary disability compensation (IT) to that of a work accidentwhich eliminates the requirement of a certain number of years of previous contributions to access it. For the self-employed, an extraordinary benefit has been approved in the event of a partial cessation of activity that can be made compatible with their work for three months; The benefit will be equivalent to 50% of your contribution base.
Paid leave
He work shield includes, as a novelty, Leave paid at 100% of salary to workers who, because of DANA, cannot go to their workplace or telework. Unlike those that were put in place during the pandemic, these permits will be non-recoverable, so the worker will not have to recover hours not worked for the company.
The Ministry of Labor clarified that paid leave may be requested by each of the parents or guardians to care for the people in their care, due to the inability to go to their place of work, due to the need to condition their accommodation or due to the disappearance or death of family members and as long as the cause persists.
Although payment will be the responsibility of the companiescurrently 412 companies in the region have already requested an ERTE, so that the workers concerned receive unemployment benefits and not this permit.
On the other hand, the child support supplement (CAPI) of the minimum subsistence income (IMV) will temporarily increase by 30%. According to Sánchez, up to 10,000 low-income families with dependent minors residing in affected areas could benefit.
Accommodation
Regarding damage-focused measures, The government has decided to extend all assistance for housing damage to owners.that is to say to owners who do not reside in their accommodation, but had rented it. Likewise, compensation for loss of property is extended to tenants and will cover the goods that are not essential.
The beneficiaries of this aid You will benefit from an “immediate deposit” of 50% on your requestso that they do not have to wait for their file to be processed.
To speed up the management of this aid, the number of government sub-delegations has been increased, the creation of service desks in all Corres offices and the opening of a network of temporary offices in the municipalities concerned; Ten of them are already operational.
The Government’s new royal decree extends the Code of Good Mortgage Practices so that affected households can freeze your mortgages for another 12 monthsonce the 12 months already provided for in last week’s royal decree have passed. Thus, those affected will not pay anything for three months and for the next 21 months, they will only have to pay the interest on their mortgage.
Likewise, Sánchez announced the authorization of 150 state-owned housing units which are located either in the areas concerned or in surrounding areas, to make them available to the people concerned “free of charge and immediately”. He also announced that the government would allocate 15 million euros for the purchase of housing.
On the supply side, Electricity and gas cuts have been banned in affected homes. In addition, the modification and temporary suspension of supply contracts, as well as the increase in bills, are permitted at no cost to consumers. Telecommunications and service operators are also ordered to compensate their customers for the services they did not receive during the disaster.
Productive fabric
The decree-law also provides for direct aid amounting to 200 million euros for farms which cannot carry out the next campaign normally or which are experiencing losses of productive potential greater than 40%. To this is added a Additional ICO line of 60 million euros for farmers and breeders.
Others 175 million will be assigned to repair agricultural infrastructure such as roads, terraces and irrigation systems, while 45 million will be allocated for the restoration of the Albufera and affected river basins.
They will devote themselves 500 million to finance an action plan against mud to remove accumulated debris and repair the water networks of the affected municipalities.
Additionally, they are assigned 2 million in direct aid to cinemas, bookstores and cultural entities which had to close their doors.
