Response from the Ministry of Action and Public Accounts: Many municipalities have shown their willingness to support companies present in their territory and weakened by the consequences of the Covid-19 epidemic. To this end, Article 2 ofOrdinance No. 2020-317 of March 25, 2020 has created a solidarity fund financed by the State and the regions as well as by any other local authority or any public establishment of inter-municipal cooperation with its own taxation (EPCI) voluntary.
This system introduces a one-off derogation from the distribution of competences of local authorities in the area of business aid by authorizing in particular, on an exceptional basis, municipalities to finance business aid through their contributions. Endowed with € 8 billion, this fund provides a simple, powerful, rapid, scalable and coordinated response for small businesses. By way of exception, these contributions will be recorded as investment expenditure.
Apart from this mechanism, the interventions envisaged by the communities and their groups come under the common law of aid provided for by the general code of local authorities (CGCT). In application ofarticle L. 1511-2 of the CGCT stemming from the NOTRe law, the regions have exclusive competence for defining business aid schemes and deciding on their granting. The communal bloc, on the other hand, has sole jurisdiction in matters of business property aid.
Within the communal block, the NOTRe law has allocated all economic actions to the EPCIs, which can notably contribute to the financing of aid granted by the region, by agreement with it. Municipalities cannot therefore set up their own support systems for businesses, including when they work in the field of sport, tourism and culture. The same is true of business real estate.
However, there is a reduction in this principle for municipalities that are members of an agglomeration community (CA) or a community of municipalities (CC). In this case, the intervention of the municipality will be possible for actions relating to “support for commercial activities” not recognized of Community interest, as specified in articles L. 5214-16 (CC) and L. 5216-5 (CA) of the CGCT. It will be necessary to refer to the statutes of the CC or the CA in order to determine which of the municipality or the community is competent.
Within the framework of this support only for commercial activities, the municipality will then be able to intervene, sometimes simultaneously with the CC or the CA, on different perimeters or beneficiaries for example, as soon as the definition of the community interest allows it. Respect for this framework ensures that the State and the communities mobilize in a coordinated manner to support businesses and populations most vulnerable by the health crisis. It allows business leaders to have a point of reference for their requests for assistance, without having to turn to multiple contacts with neighboring or competing mechanisms.
To enable voluntary municipalities to help businesses, the decree n ° 2020-757 of June 20, 2020 modifying the decree n ° 2020-371 of March 30, 2020 relating to the solidarity fund for companies particularly affected by the economic, financial and social consequences of the spread of the covid-19 epidemic and the measures taken to limit this spread, established within the fund solidarity, additional aid of between € 500 and € 3,000, reserved only for businesses in the contributing territory, on condition that they have already benefited from part 2 of the fund. Thus, each municipality will be able to contribute, after deliberation and by agreement with the State and the region, to the solidarity fund with the guarantee that the entirety of its contribution will benefit the companies in its territory.
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