The covid subsidies should end in November with CovidCheck to be introduced in restaurants at the same time. (Photo: Romain Gamba/Maison Moderne)

The covid subsidies should end in November with CovidCheck to be introduced in restaurants at the same time. (Photo: Romain Gamba/Maison Moderne)

Uncovered costs subsidies, stimulus checks and reimbursable aids are to stop on 1 November with the ministry of small and medium-sized businesses waiting for a European decision on whether or not to extend the subsidies to the end of the year and to 2022.

With the end of October comes the end of the covid subsidies as well. It will still be possible, until 1 December 2021, to apply for (in the event of a loss of at least 40% of turnover) or . The latter allocates €250 per employee working reduced hours plus €1,250 per employee for July and August and €1,000 per employee for September and October, in the event of a drop in turnover of at least 25%. Both are not cumulative and only for the months covered, i.e. from July to October included.

can also no longer be applied for after 1 November.

Will these three packages be extended? For the time being, the European Union allows member states to provide aid until December 2021, explains the spokesperson for the ministry of the middle class. The decision whether or not to continue in 2022 will be taken "shortly.” A step that minister Lex Delles (DP) is "looking forward to take.” However, this does not mean that if the EU accepts, Luxembourg will automatically extend the scheme. "We are waiting for the European decision, and then we will make our own decision,” the ministry reiterates.

In any case, this has been requested by the Horesca federation, which fears a new drop in activity in the hospitality sector with the introduction of CovidCheck in restaurants.

€230m for the recovery and uncovered costs

One question remains: why not extend the aid to at least November and December, since the EU still allows it? “Because the Luxembourg model is such that we have always given ourselves some time to evaluate. We have never taken the last possible date," Delles explains.

So far €80m have already been paid out in recovery aid and €150m in aid for uncovered costs.

The partial unemployment linked to the crisis ended on 30 June to make way for the . This provides for the grant of cyclical partial unemployment to companies in industry and that of structural partial unemployment for other sectors, within the framework of an employment maintenance plan for companies with 15 or more employees, a recovery plan for smaller structures, or a sectoral maintenance plan negotiated with the federations.

This story was first published in French on . It has been translated and edited for Delano.