Restaurateurs (almost) dry-mouthed in terms of support. The Decree approved on Friday by the Council of Ministers, in fact, does not provide for substantial contributions specifically dedicated to the category. Which, since the end of October, has not only been in “half service”, but is also forced to a swing of openings and closings in line with the trend of infections and the colors of the Regions.
The fund for the hardest hit businesses
According to the text of the Dl Sostegni, public businesses will be able to apply for grants – which, however, the trade associations see insufficient in terms of amounts, too limited in proportion to the losses recorded – and a portion of the 200 million that will flow, for 2021, into a fund to support the businesses most affected by the crisis resulting from the anti-Covid restrictions: commercial and restaurant activities in historic centers, but also companies operating in the wedding and events sector . A treasure that, following a decree of the Ministry of Economy, will then be distributed by the Regions and autonomous provinces.
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The decree also budgeted an increase of 250 million for the Fund for the support and development of agricultural, fisheries and aquaculture sectors for which the 2021 Budget Law had allocated 150 million, probably “advanced” by the remodeling of the fund catering. But there are no indications that part of the 400 million provided by the Dl Sostegni as refreshment for the sector’s activities could go to projects to relaunch the supply chain from upstream to downstream, which include restaurants.
A philosophy already embodied by the restaurant fund introduced by the August decree (Dl 104/2020) with an allocation of 600 million euros, subsequently reduced to 450 million – divided over two years – by the Ristori-quater decree (Dl 157/2020) : a non-repayable grant from 1,000 to 10 thousand euros for catering activities (but also agritourism, catering) that have purchased made in Italy products.
The contribution to the applicants in numbers
The catering fund, however, has undergone a rather troubled path – complicit in extended timing that overlapped, in fact, with the closures of restaurants and the crisis of the Conte II government – which has not yet been concluded: of the approximately 47 thousand applications received most, about 30 thousand, online on the restaurant portal managed by Poste Italiane – currently only the first tranche is liquidated. Minister Stefano Patuanelli, owner of agricultural policies, in a question time in the Chamber on 10 March, announced that only 12,700 applicants (therefore just over a quarter) have already received 90% of the expected contribution and, after having provided the documentation required by law, will receive the remaining 10% by the end of the March. This will bring the total amount of disbursements to 87 million. The amount paid more than three months after the closing of the call (15 December) and seven months after the introduction of the bonus is far from the 450 million that Mipaaf has assigned to applicants (and, indirectly, should fall on the food supply chain).