The Official State Gazette (BOE) published this Tuesday the second government aid plan for people affected by DANA, which includes 110 additional measures worth 3,765 million eurosand this adds to plan announced last week of 10.6 billion euros, which makes a total of 14.365 million for the victims.
In a royal decree signed by King Felipe VI and the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, in force since this Tuesday, the document 106 pages presents the measures that have been added to the “Immediate Response Plan, Reconstruction and Recovery of the Valencian Community” of the Executive.
All the measures adopted last week, as well as the new measures approved this Monday, will allow 400,000 workers maintain their incomeand will help some 30,000 businesses to reactivate their activity and some 100,000 households to cover their most basic needs, as Sánchez explained yesterday at a press conference.
Extension of housing assistance and 50% advances
One of the measures included in this new package is the extension of aid to damage to houses to the owners who did not reside there, but who had rented them. “Therefore, it is not only the owners, but also the owners who did not reside there, but who rented them,” Sánchez said.
Compensation for losses in equipment to tenants and non-essential property. Furthermore, so that this aid arrives more quickly, it was decided to carry out a immediate advance 50% to all citizens who request assistance.
Freeze mortgage loans for more months and 25 million to buy houses
Likewise, the Mortgage Code of Good Practice, created in 2022, was extended so that households affected by DANA can freeze their property loans. for an additional 12 monthsonce the 12 months already provided for in last week’s royal decree have passed.
According to last week’s decree, families will be able to benefit from the suspension of work obligations. payment of interest and principal on loans and credits for a period of three months and an additional nine months for the payment of the capital, whether or not they have a mortgage guarantee.
This means that a citizen who has an average mortgage of 120,000 euros, with a monthly payment of 600 euros, will pay nothing during the first three months and for the next nine months they will only pay interest, around 300 euros.
With the decree approved this Monday, once this deadline has passed, if it presents a risk of vulnerability, this household will be able to benefit from the Code and continue to pay an amount of approximately 300 euros for 12 additional months for all of Spain and an additional 18 months for those in affected areas.
According to Sánchez, so far they have already been activated 150 housing units belonging to the Spanish governmentwhich are located in or near the damaged areas, in order to make them available free of charge and immediately to those affected. 25 million euros will also be allocated to the purchase of housing and the expansion of the stock for the families and housing concerned.
Labor shield: strengthening of ERTE and new allowance for self-employed workers
In terms of work, the ERTE of force majeure to apply them to all companies and all workers who, although not located in the affected municipalities, have seen their activity seriously damaged by DANA.
The assimilation of temporary disability benefit to that of a work accident, removing the requirement of a certain number of previous years of contributions to be able to access it.
The “work shield” includes paid leave, with 100% of salaryto 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.
These permits, which will not result in loss of contributions and will therefore be counted as effective work, will have indefinite deadlines (days of leave will not be counted), except in the case of leave for death of a family member, which is extended to five working days from the date of the funeral.
Furthermore, the green light was given to a extraordinary new benefit partial shutdown for self-employed workers, which will allow them to make their activity compatible for 3 months with the benefit of this aid. It will be equivalent to 50% of your contribution base.
Taking into account the volume of labor measures, the amount of the envelope from the Ministry of Labor and Social Economy in this second royal decree amounts to 1,439 million eurosthe largest recorded among government departments, followed by the Ministry of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration (1,097 million euros).
Prohibition of electricity and gas cuts
The package includes the ban on electricity and gas outages Affected households and telecommunications and service operators are ordered to compensate their customers for the services they did not receive during the disaster.
It is also permitted, at no cost to the consumer, to modify and temporarily suspend the supply contractsas well as the postponement of invoices.
Aid to the primary sector and activation of the ICO line of 1,000 million
Among the measures aimed at recovering the productive fabric, the direct help line of the 200 million for agricultural operations which have suffered damage which prevents them from carrying out the next campaign normally or which have losses of productive potential greater than 40%.
An additional credit line is also included Saeca ICO card of 60 million euros for farmers and breeders and a program to repair agricultural infrastructure such as roads, terraces and irrigation systems of 175 million euros which will be executed by Tragsa.
For its part, the activation of a first tranche of 1,000 million ICO credits announced last week will be carried out, specifying a line of guarantees which will cover 80% of the total amount of the loanso that households, businesses and the self-employed can access the amount of aid, subsidies and compensation as quickly as possible and also undertake the investments they need. Furthermore, aid, execution deadlines and conditions for projects intended for industrial companies will be relaxed.
Restoration of La Albufera and aid to cinemas and bookstores
The aid plan includes a 45 million euro plan for the restoration of the Albufera and river basins affected by flooding and two million euros will be launched in direct aid for the cinemas, bookstores and cultural entities which had to close their doors.
In addition, an item of 500 million euros is planned to finance a Mud Action Plan intended to remove accumulated debris and repair the water networks of affected municipalities, as well as a temporary 30% increase in the child assistance supplement, received by the approximately 10,000 low-income families with minors who reside in the affected areas.
The Council of Ministers also approved the temporary increase in staff in government sub-delegations, the creation of service points in all post offices and the opening of a network of temporary offices in the municipalities concerned.
