Bridge (Gefyra) 2

We continue to support and facilitate debtors affected by the COVID-19 pandemic crisis.

We are participating in the new Bridge 2 Programme launched by the Greek State which provides loan instalment subsidy for business loans extended to legal and natural persons (freelance professionals, partners in personal or private companies). It applies to both performing and non-performing loans.

The deadline for submitting applications has been extended to 31/05/2021.

Find out what Law 4790/2021 provides for instalment subsidy for business loans to affected businesses and professionals.
 

Programme features

The State will contribute for 8 months to your monthly business loan instalments, commencing from the month following the approval of your application. Both principal and interest are subsidised.

The rate and maximum amount of the subsidy vary based on the following classification of debts in three (3) categories (as classified on 31/12/2020):
 

• 1st category: Performing debts or debts up to 90 days past due
• 2nd category: Non-performing debts over 90 days past due
• 3rd category: Non-performing denounced debts
   

State contribution

The State’s contribution is paid every month in the unseizable loan account for your debts sent on the digital platform. 

The State contribution can be neither seized nor netted. A tax or insurance clearance certificate is not required to approve and pay the contribution.

The category in which your debt belongs and the contribution rate depend on any overdue amounts as at 31/12/2020. The State contribution rate ranges according to the following table:
 

Maximum monthly contribution amount per debt category:

The total amount of State contribution granted to a single business (on a single business level as set out in Article 65(s) of Law 4790/2021) cannot exceed €1.8 million in aggregate. This amount is calculated before taxes or other levies, taking into account all aids granted to the single business, pursuant to Section 3.1 of the Temporary Framework.

Who is entitled to the contribution

The following entities are eligible for the State contribution:
 

• Active legal persons representing a very small, small or medium business. Financial institutions are exempted.
• Natural persons who are active freelance professionals or partners in personal (e.g. general partnership, limited partnership) or private (e.g. private company, limited liability partnership) companies.
   

It is a prerequisite that all persons are proven to have been affected by COVID-19 and, to this end, have been included in the measures taken to address the COVID-19 consequences.

The following are considered to have been financially affected by the coronavirus:

i. Legal persons and entities, including sole proprietorships, that were classified as affected based on their business activity code (KAD), pursuant to Ministerial Decisions already issued or that will be issued by 09/05/2021.

ii. Freelance professionals or natural persons pursuing business activity, but with no employees, that were classified as affected based on their business activity code (KAD), pursuant to Ministerial Decisions already issued or that will be issued by 09/05/2021.

iii. Legal persons or businesses operating in real estate that received reduced rents, pursuant to Ministerial Decisions already issued or that will be issued by 09/05/2021.

iv. Partners in personal or private companies that were mandatorily suspended or classified as affected based on their business activity code (KAD), pursuant to Ministerial Decisions already issued or that will be issued by 09/05/2021. v.    Beneficiaries or recipients of the aid granted in the form of the repayable advances, pursuant to Ministerial Decisions already issued or that will be issued by 09/05/2021.

vi. Legal persons and entities, including sole proprietorships, that constitute private-sector employers and included their employees in the provisions of Joint Ministerial Decision No. 23103/478/2020 (Β/2274) of the Ministers of Finance, Development and Investment, and Labour and Social Affairs (“Cooperation” mechanism) up until 09/05/2021.

Their revenue for the 2020 calendar year must have been reduced by at least 20% compared to 2019, as illustrated through their periodical VAT returns.
 

Additional eligibility criteria

• There must be at least one business or professional debt to a financing institution.
• You should not have received any other active State aid or contribution at the time the application was submitted.
• There should be no active guarantee provided by the Greek State or the Hellenic Development Bank or EU bodies through national or EU resources for the loan.
• At the time the application is submitted, any non-performing or denounced loans of yours up until the application date should not constitute over 50% of the total loans you have received from financing institutions for any reason.

The following additional eligibility criteria should also be met per beneficiary category:

• For medium businesses, not to be an undertaking in difficulty within the meaning of Article 18(2) of Regulation (EU) No 651/2014 as at 31 December 2019, or if it was an undertaking in difficulty as at 31 December 2019, to not be an undertaking in difficulty when the aid is granted.
• For small or very small businesses that were already undertakings in difficulty as at 31 December 2019: a) to not have been included in collective insolvency proceedings and to not have received rescue aid without having repaid the loan or terminated the guarantee agreement, and b) to not have received restructuring aid and to not be subject to a restructuring plan, within the meaning of the guidelines on state aid for rescuing and restructuring non-financial undertakings in difficulty.
• During the 2 years before submitting the application, the beneficiaries must not have been subject to: a) 3 penalty acts issued by the inspectors of the Labour Inspectorate on “material” or “very material” violations of the Labour Law, as a result of 3 inspections, or b) 2 penalty acts issued by the inspectors of the Labour Inspectorate on undeclared employment, as a result of 2 inspections.
• There must be no outstanding recovery order for previous illegal and incompatible state aid.
• All businesses should be active, file all tax returns, not to be bankrupt, not to have filed for bankruptcy, not to have been placed under compulsory administration, not to have filed to be placed under compulsory administration, and, in general, not to have been included in any insolvency proceedings in accordance with the national law, except for the case, when the resolution of the undertaking has been ratified by a court order, which has not been challenged by any means of appeal.
• If the businesses are operating in manufacturing or agriculture, they should not pass the received aid, in part or in full, on to primary producers.
   

Summary of the criteria for the 1st category