The European Commission greenlights the 700 million euros scheme of the Italian government to support businesses damaged by the war in Ukraine. The measure will be accessible to small and medium-sized enterprises and to those with less than 1,500 employees (mid-caps) which are active in all sectors affected by the current geopolitical crisis, as well as the sanctions and countersanctions adopted in this context. Companies operating in the primary production of agricultural products, fisheries, aquaculture, banking and financial sectors are excluded by the scheme, as well as the commercial ones and commercial intermediary companies.
Companies eligible for the benefit will be entitled to receive limited aid in the form of direct grants. The scheme will be accessible to companies with an average overall foreign turnover, in the years 2019, 2020 and 2021, equal to at least 10% of the average total turnover of the same years.
In order to be able to access the support measure, companies must also obtain supplies for certain parts of their supplies from Ukraine, Russia or Belarus and provide for the financial year 2022, either an increase in the average unit cost of supplies, or a reduction in the quantities of supplies from the same countries by at least 20 % compared to the average recorded in 2019, 2020 and 2021.