Berlin Marion Losse has been running her small clothing store in the Hamburg district of Winterhude for five years. It has never been as dramatic as it has been in a year and a half, she says. Losse was hit hard by the corona crisis, and she had to close her shop for a total of six months.
Now, a year and a half later, things don’t look much better. Although there is no lockdown, customers are less and less likely to get lost in their stores due to the high number of infections.
It was precisely during this difficult time that the self-employed had to repay several thousand euros to the federal government, which it had transferred to her in spring 2020. Small businesses and the self-employed in Germany received the “Immediate Aid Corona” as a grant at the beginning of the pandemic.
Now Losse like thousands upon thousands of other companies have to pay back the aid. So far, the state has asked for a total of 287.8 million back. That is the result of a Handelsblatt survey among the economics ministries and development banks of the countries that are responsible for processing corona aid.
More than 30,000 companies and self-employed are affected. Some companies have already paid, but most of the claims are still outstanding. And more will be added because several countries are still examining.
“Injustice Screaming Heaven”
Those affected are outraged at how little understanding the authorities seem to have for their situation. “We are in an ongoing struggle for existence”, annoyed Losse, “and now the state is having the money repaid in full in many cases.” She speaks of a “blatant injustice”.
At the time, when the aid was presented in spring 2020, the then Finance Minister Olaf Scholz (SPD) literally said that “nothing has to be repaid”.
When the first lockdown came in March 2020, the federal government wanted to quickly secure the company’s liquidity. Small businesses and self-employed people could get up to 15,000 euros at short notice. To do this, they had to assess whether their liquidity would be sufficient within the next three months.
The countries responsible for processing already checked the first companies in 2020. Large-scale controls started this summer. In doing so, they assessed whether the companies actually had a liquidity bottleneck. If this is not the case, they ask for the money back.
Declines in sales or additional costs are not included in the invoice. But that is exactly what the entrepreneurs and self-employed have often had to use the money for – and they cannot simply pay it back now.
In addition, the applicants could not claim any wages for themselves that they would otherwise have received from their own income. “We only helped those to whom we passed the money, whether landlords, banks or insurance companies,” says shop owner Losse.
No question about it, not every applicant has legitimately received the money. But the mass of reclaims raises fundamental doubts. The first business associations are calling on their members to take legal action against the rulings.
Even the managing director of the HDE trade association, Stefan Genth, has no understanding. He fears that the massive recovery claims “will unnecessarily provoke bankruptcies in these difficult times”.
In the meantime, the problem has penetrated to Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck (Greens). According to Handelsblatt information, his Federal Ministry of Economics wants to approach the states in order to sound out solutions as to how the situations of those affected can be improved.
Katharina Beck, financial policy spokeswoman for the Greens, thinks this is an important reaction. Regarding the repayment demands, she says: “The previous process has not only shaken confidence in the institutions involved, but in the state as a whole and can be poison for a society in which some people are already increasingly turning away from politics.”
The mass of reclaims raises fundamental doubts
Even with legitimate reclaims, the question arises whether the issuing of notices in the midst of the next wave of infections is a good choice. The federal states have room to maneuver. Baden-Württemberg, Brandenburg, Bremen, Lower Saxony and North Rhine-Westphalia are still holding back their decisions.
“Many small businesses, freelancers and self-employed people are still affected by the consequences of the pandemic,” said the North Rhine-Westphalian Minister for Economic Affairs, Andreas Pinkwart (FDP), to the Handelsblatt.
The federal and state governments point to each other
The federal states have announced that they will accept deferrals and, in some cases, installment payments. However, there are big differences. Lower Saxony has postponed the repayment period to the end of February, Saxony-Anhalt allows the extension to up to two years.
When asked whether a generally more accommodating line would be appropriate due to the current situation, the Saxon development bank replies: “In the case of unjustified enrichment, there is no goodwill.”
Many countries point to the federal government that they only implement its requirements and therefore cannot be more accommodating. “In the federal government, on the other hand, reference is also made to the states. Unfortunately, the state seems unreliable, ”criticizes Beck.
However, when it comes to the amount of repayments, the federal states act independently. Because in some cases the companies have to pay back more money than they received. Some take interest rates of up to five percent.
“Now solo self-employed people and small businesses have to pay the state for their inability to pay at loan terms that any bank could only dream of at the moment,” criticized Beck. In certain cases this applies to Hamburg, Rhineland-Palatinate, Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia.
Call for a moratorium and a task force
Beck is now calling for a moratorium on repayments, uniform goodwill rules and the establishment of a task force.
Many countries are defending themselves that companies have already been very accommodating. Chancellor Olaf Scholz did not want to comment on his statement at the time that the aid did not have to be repaid: The Federal Chancellery declined to comment and referred to the responsible ministries.
The Federal Ministry of Finance referred to the Ministry of Economic Affairs. It remains to be seen whether this approach to the federal states will bring anything for women entrepreneurs like Marion Losse. She has already settled the claim from Hamburg, she reports – and has had to “strongly attack” her pension scheme.
More: Federal government extends corona aid