The government is extending support measures for companies and individuals affected by the corona measures. For example, all sectors can continue to rely on temporary unemployment due to force majeure.
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The federal government has extended the support measures regarding corona until March next year. The decision came after the Consultation Committee decided last week to take stricter measures again. “We leave no one behind and with these support measures we prove that,” Prime Minister Alexander De Croo (Open VLD) said at a press conference this afternoon.
The main measures are:
- Temporary unemployment due to force majeure, or because a child has to be quarantined. Parents who are unable to care for a child because the crèche or school is closing can also make use of the measure.
- The double bridging right for self-employed persons who have to close their business.
- A monthly premium of 25 euros for subsistence wage earners and people who receive benefits (IVT and IGO).
- Possibility to postpone the payment of individual social security contributions to the RSZ
- The extension of the small delay for vaccination
- The possibility for artists to accumulate copyright and unemployment benefits
- The enforcement of the VAT rate of 6 percent for alcohol gel and mouth masks
No VAT reduction catering
There will be no VAT reduction for the catering industry, one of the sectors most affected, said De Croo. However, the Minister of Employment Pierre-Yves Dermagne (PS) promised 66 million euros in premiums for employees in the sector.
‘Many employers lack the financial capacity to insure the payment of the end-of-year premiums in the catering industry. To ensure that employees would not be hit twice, I arranged for the government to intervene in the payment of the year-end bonuses.’
Last month, 167,000 employees and about 38,000 companies still applied for temporary unemployment. On average, there were 300,000 and 55,000 respectively this year, according to figures from the Dermagne cabinet.
Stability
In the context of the press conference, De Croo also pleaded for ‘stability’ at the next Consultation Committee, which will meet on 22 December. He indicated that he did not immediately want to respond to the request of Flemish Prime Minister Jan Jambon (N-VA) to reopen the cultural sector.
The costs, meanwhile, continue to rise. In 2021, the government spent about six billion euros on support, of which two billion for the measure around temporary unemployment and 2.7 billion for the bridging right.
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