Thuringia’s Ministry of Economic Affairs is running out of money for investment support from companies. After a run on state subsidies for commercial investment projects, a preliminary application freeze has now been announced, the ministry announced in Erfurt on Wednesday. The ministry is trying to get additional money.
Economics Minister Wolfgang Tiefensee (SPD) justified the decision for the “Joint Task to Improve Regional Economic Structure” program currently threatened with oversubscription. A stop signal reduces the risk for potential investors of starting projects that have not yet been fully financed in anticipation of a funding commitment.
“The demand for funding clearly exceeds the existing volume of approval,” said Tiefensee. The willingness of companies to invest is high. A foreseeable funding requirement of more than 170 million euros is currently only offset by around 80 million euros that could be approved. There are currently around 180 applications for funding – new ones are added every day.
The problem arises even though in 2021, with 130 million euros including a special program, more money will be available for investment support for companies than it has been for years. He now wants to try to get federal funds that are not needed in other federal states. However, the situation is also tense in some other federal states. The program is funded half by the federal government and half by the federal states.
It is now important that the EU Commission quickly approve the new regional funding rules from 2022. If there is legal certainty, applications could be accepted again, said Tiefensee. This affects many projects that could only be implemented in the coming years anyway.
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