Billion in grants for medium-sized, small businesses

The first initiatives for small and medium-sized enterprises is expected to be announced through the Competitiveness program of the National Strategic Reference Framework, known in Greece as ESPA, which will finance their digital transformation.

According to Deputy Minister of Development and Investment Yannis Tsakiris, this will be the first of the two flagship programs to support small and medium-sized enterprises.

The second concerns the green transition, with a total budget of 1 billion euros. The program, which will finance digital transformation investments and actions, has a budget of €300 million while the program on green transition, which will follow immediately afterward, will have a budget of €700 million.

The novelty of the two programs is that they will have an open application date until the total amount of €300+700 million is covered – i.e. without the practice of previous years with fragmented calls for a certain amount and closed dates for the submission of applications by interested parties.

Among the new ESPA’s innovations is a platform for submitting applications, which will allow companies interested in receiving subsidies to visit it. The platform goes live on Thursday, and allows those who wish to do so to voluntarily create their own profile, through which all of the business’ basic financial data can be obtained, thus simplifying the process for submitting applications when the program is activated.

The Ministry of Development estimates that the €1 billion will be gradually absorbed over the next two to three years, with an estimated 56,000 businesses benefiting.

The subsidies to be granted are based on the new state aid map, which provides for low subsidy rates for businesses in Attica (15-25%), but can be increased by 10% for investments made by medium-sized enterprises and by 20% for investments made by small enterprises, provided the investment does not exceed €50 million.