“The Ministry of Finance will support the possibility of drawing assistance from the Antivirus program in parallel with the compensatory bonus. We will adjust the legislation so that it is also possible retroactively for the already completed autumn bonus periods, “Alena Schillerová (for YES) wrote to the News in an SMS message to Novinka.
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However, she no longer answered additional questions as to why she changed her mind and whether she was preparing her own proposal or eventually supporting one of the opposition’s proposals.
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“Rather than postpone the opposition, postpone it”
“I am surprised that the government did not realize how absurdly it set the rules when it put such an exclusion there, in contrast to the first wave,” KDU-ČSL head Marian Jurečka, who is one of the proposers, told Novinka.
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Two opposition drafts have now met in the House. One was submitted by a group of legislators KDU-ČSL, ODS, TOP 09, STAN and Pirates, the other by members of the SPD. The budget impactors estimated the budgetary implications at approximately CZK 300 million. The law now allows only shareholders of small limited liability companies to receive these contributions at the same time, which they say is discriminatory.
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So it is not yet clear how the changes will go. Jurečka pointed out that government deputies have so far been against it. He believes that this repeats the scenario several times, when they first reject the opposition’s proposal, and then the cabinet introduces it as its own.
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According to him, this was already evident after Thursday’s meeting of the Chamber of Deputies, where the People’s Party, together with the ODS, tried to push similar proposals, but without success.
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He added that Finance Minister Schiller had subsequently informed him that she was preparing her own proposal. “She officially said that it precludes it, as it would be additional expenditures to the state budget. But then she told me between four eyes that she was planning an adjustment, “said Jurečka.
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“We have been arguing for over a month, the government is throwing it under the table, but in the meantime it is preparing its proposal. So even though he knows it’s wrong, rather than accept the opposition’s proposal to help the people right away, they’d rather put it off and look for their own path, “the People’s Party was angry.
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However, he added in the end that he considers the result to be the most important, and therefore if the change succeeds, albeit with a delay of two months, he would welcome it.
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However, Schiller has previously stated that if the imposed business restrictions were lifted by the end of the year, there would be no reason to extend the Antivirus program further. He should be followed by a new kurzarbeit, but there was no agreement on setting his rules.
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There are two Antivirus programs. In the first, the state pays the entire wage with levies up to 50,000 crowns in operations that the government has ordered to close. It also pays 80 percent of the compensation for quarantined workers up to 39,000 crowns of super-gross wages. In the second, companies can receive a contribution that equals 60 percent of the compensation to 29,000 crowns of super-gross wages with a reduction in production and services due to a loss of demand, raw materials or personnel.
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The drafts will be discussed by the government first, but the subsequent decision will be up to the deputies and senators. If they approve the changes, they will head to President Miloš Zeman for signing.
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