The Commission has adopted a third amendment to extend the Temporary Framework to further to provide targeted support for such companies that have entered into financial difficulty as a result of the coronavirus outbreak.

Today’s amendment enables Member States to provide public support under the Temporary Framework to all micro and small companies, even if they were already in financial difficulty on 31 December 2019.

This amendment also effectively increases the possibilities to support start-up companies, the vast majority of which fall within the micro and small companies cluster, especially innovative ones which may be loss-making in their high-growth phase, which are crucial for the economic recovery of the Union. This will increase the incentives for companies to seek market as well as State contributions to their capital needs, whilst maintaining safeguards to preserve effective competition in the Single Market.