Emergency funding granted to local authorities
Regional and municipal authorities are being granted an additional 60 million euros in emergency funding to deal with the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, on top of another €140 million approved by the Interior Ministry earlier this year.
According to the Athens-Macedonian News Agency (ANA-MPA), Interior Minister Takis Theodorikakos urged local government to use the money to bolster support for vulnerable social groups and businesses hurt by measures aimed at stemming the spread of the virus.
Specifically, he recommended that local authorities freeze the municipal tax payments of businesses that will be closed during the lockdown.
“Our goal must be to keep businesses alive and the jobs of their employees,” he said.
Theodorikakos also called on mayors and regional governors to ensure that staff that is underemployed during the lockdown – such as, for example, cleaners at middle and high schools – be assigned to other services experiencing shortages.
Among these, the minister mentioned the Help at Home program for providing assistance to elderly and disabled citizens.
