STA, 17 May 2020 - While subsidies for part-time work worth up to EUR 1 billion are seen as a key feature of the emerging third coronavirus stimulus package, draft documents obtained by the STA also include measures such as vouchers for tourism, aid to ski lift operators, extended permits for foreign labour, as well as a solution for packaging waste issues.
The part-time work subsidies are expected to be provided for employers unable to secure at least a 90% workload for at least 10% of their employees. Subsidises for work conducted 20 to 36 hours a week would range between 459 and 112 euros. The support, co-funded with EU funds, would be available from 1 June onwards and until 30 November at most.
Another major segment of the third package is aid to tourism, one proposed measure being tourism vouchers in the value of 200 euros to be provide to everybody in regular employment as well as the self-employed.
The vouchers would be valid until 31 December this year or possibly 28 February 2021 and are expected to reduce a projected 60% to 70% contraction of the tourism sector to 40%. They are meant to cost the state up to EUR 200 million and are not conceived as a replacement for the holiday allowance.
Unlike other sectors, tourism and hospitality companies can moreover expect an extension of the support scheme that has had the state fully covering the 80% unemployment allowance for temporarily redundant workers.
Monthly basic income support could meanwhile be prolonged for farmers, while issues with securing foreign labour for seasonal work would be addressed with a prolongation of the labour permit validity from 90 to 150 days.
Also being proposed is a national mechanism for the monitoring of foreign direct investment, through which Slovenia would protect itself against takeovers of strategic industry.
Potential additional aid to companies includes extra efforts to secure favourable credit lines and possibly rent payments deferrals until July 2021 for business premises that could not be utilised during the lockdown.
A special injection is envisaged by the Infrastructure Ministry for ski lift operators, which could get between 1,000 and 12,000 euros.
Meanwhile, another measure found in the draft seeks to address continuing issues with packaging waste management through what seems to be the restoring of the temporary solution that had the state paying for the removal and processing of unattended to waste. The measure is expected to cost EUR 15 million this year.
