Economy minister Franz Fayot stated that “short-time working will remain at the heart of financial aids for the economy,” which is why the partial unemployment scheme will be extended until the end of June 2021. Similarly an array of other aids currently in place, including the investment aid for businesses that switched to the production of goods relevant to combating covid-19 as well as the state guarantee scheme for new bank loans, will also be extended until 30 June 2021, Fayot said. 

Along these lines, minister for tourism and small and medium sized enterprises, Lex Delles announced an extension of the current recovery and solidarity fund. This aid, focused on sectors hit particularly hard by the health crisis, such as tourism, culture, events and the Horeca, is supposed to offer financial support to businesses that saw at least a 25% drop in turnover compared to 2019. 

Additionally, Delles introduced a second aid package targeting unpaid costs. This immediate and non-refundable aid is aimed at businesses in the Horeca, culture, event and tourism sectors that have seen a drop in turnover of at least 40%. 

However, Delles specified that the two forms of aid could not be combined. 

Minister of culture, Sam Tanson then announced that available financial aids in the cultural sector will be extended to also support commercial entities, which was previously not possible. Furthermore, aid for artists with an intermittent status will be extended from 1 November until the end of December, Tanson said.