The President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, appeared this Tuesday at the Moncloa to announce the package of measures and aid approved by the Council of Ministers and “aimed at those affected by DANA”. This “first response” is 10.6 billion euros in total, with direct aid to rebuild homes, change appliances or for the self-employed and companies. The intention is to benefit “30,000 businesses and thousands of families.”
Firstly, the Executive has declared those hardest hit places in the Valencian Community, Castilla-La Mancha, Andalusia, Catalonia and Aragon as “areas seriously affected by an emergency – what was previously called a catastrophic area.” In addition, the Government has approved an “emergency Decree Law in which all economic, labor and fiscal aid is compiled.”
At the beginning of the appearance, Sánchez detailed the “important” deployment of professionals and machinery, although he admitted that it is not enough because “there are still missing persons to be located; affected companies, businesses and families, and that is why we must continue working.” All measures will be framed “in an immediate response plan, reconstruction and relaunch of the Valencian Community.” In three phases, coordinated by an inter-ministerial commission, “which will last as long as necessary” and will end with “a transformation of the territory to adapt it to the climate emergency.”
In the first phase of this Plan, the first phase is “the immediate response”, whose measures will be available and highlighted on the Moncloa website. “All these measures are inspired by the experience accumulated in the Government’s crisis management”, especially after the pandemic and after the La Palma volcano.
The 10.6 billion “are a lot of economic resources” to which will be added “many others that we are going to have to request from the community institutions” and also from the State accounts, with the consequent impact on the public deficit and public debt. For this reason, Sánchez said, it is “evident” that new General State Budgets are “more necessary than yesterday.”
Up to 60,000 euros for homes
“We are going to quadruple the planned public aid and make it universal, without income thresholds, for all households,” explained the President of the Government. Specifically, there are “72,000 euros for cases of disability; between 20,000 and 60,000 euros for the reconstruction of damaged homes; and up to 10,300 euros to repair or change furniture or appliances.”
Help for wrecked cars
The President of the Government has also announced that the Insurance Compensation Consortium will begin paying the first compensation this Wednesday to those families and companies that have lost their vehicle. These compensations will be 20% higher than the vehicle appraisals. “Having a car is essential to recover normality,” said Pedro Sánchez.
Self-employed and companies
Sánchez has announced direct aid for the self-employed and companies. The President of the Government has indicated that these “will range between 10,000 and 150,000 euros” for companies, depending on their volume of operations to receive them. Meanwhile, “they will be 5,000 euros for the self-employed.”
The President has indicated that they will be processed “as easily as possible”, for which he has indicated that “the bank account number will be enough” and it is expected to receive the “payment in less than 30 days”. The Government’s estimate is that these will benefit “65,000 self-employed workers and around 30,000 companies”, mainly small and medium-sized companies.
In addition, an extraordinary temporary disability is created for workers and self-employed workers with physical or psychological damage caused by DANA. As it is considered a work accident, which guarantees 75% of your salary from the first day of disability.
Another measure is the design of a “cessation of activity benefit for self-employed workers who must stop or suspend their work, which corresponds to 70% of the contribution base. They will be able to access the aid even if they do not have the required minimum contribution period and without it reducing their benefits in the future.”
Along the same lines, the coalition Executive has created a line of DANA guarantees, through the ICO, worth 5,000 million euros for companies and the self-employed. “This Tuesday the first tranche was approved, for 1,000 million euros.”
ERTE exempt from paying contributions
Likewise, the Government has highlighted that “thanks to the labor reform, the affected companies that temporarily suspend the activity of their workers through an ERTE will be exempt from paying 100% of the Social Security contributions of the staff, at least until February 2025.”
Minimum vital income and non-contributory pensions
Regarding the most vulnerable, the Government has decided to increase 15% for three months for people who receive the minimum vital income (IMV) or non-contributory pensions.
Municipalities
The Council of Ministers has also approved measures to strengthen the financial resources of the affected municipalities, so that “they can provide the best possible service to citizens in these very difficult circumstances.”
The central government is going to pay 100% of the emergency expenses incurred by the municipalities affected by DANA for the removal of debris, belongings, supply of drinking water… It will also be responsible for up to 50% of the works that have to be carried out. carry out the town halls “in the coming months and years” to repair infrastructure, roads and municipal equipment. And they will be compensated for the municipal taxes that they will no longer receive.
Mortgages
In the same way, the Council of Ministers has assisted mortgaged families and companies with loans. “Thanks to the agreement the Government of Spain has reached with the banks, citizens and SMEs that have a mortgage or a consumer loan will be able to postpone the full payment of their loans for 3 months, and pay only the interest for an additional 9 months” .
Fiscal measures
A measure that was already known is that, from the Treasury, the Valencian Generalitat is authorized the possibility of carrying out “all the emergency expenses that it needs without any limit of resources”, also allowing the Community to fail to meet the deficit objectives due to the disaster. of the DANA.
Regarding taxes, the battery of measures is the following: “an exemption from IBI corresponding to the year 2024; the reduction of this year’s IAE; No Traffic or Police fees will be paid when processing the deregistration of damaged vehicles or replacing driving licenses and ID cards; aid for personal injuries is exempt from personal income tax taxation; The second payment of the income tax return is postponed until 2025 for those affected by DANA, benefiting 200,000 taxpayers; and a reduction in personal income tax and VAT is applied for farms and agricultural activities in the affected area.”
The Executive is also in communication with the European Commission and the procedures have been initiated to request help from the European Solidarity Fund and the use of other community support resources from the European Union (EU).
Congress and Senate have approved 45 million aid
The Senate will allocate 15 million euros to the victims of DANA, using its remaining budget to do so, as decided this Tuesday by the Chamber’s Bureau.
This item joins the 15 million euros in direct aid from Congress, which has also used its remainder, and another additional 15 million from the budget of the Cortes Generales. Thus, both chambers will allocate a total of 45 million euros to those affected.
This information has been prepared by Daniel Yebra, Laura Olías, Cristina G. Bolinches, Antonio M. Vélez and Rodrigo Ponce de León
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