The PS deputies elected by the Algarve sounded out IAPMEI and Turismo de Portugal, in two separate letters, on the possibility of creating specific lines of support, aimed at businessmen in Albufeira affected by the storm on 1 November, under programs already existing.
Socialist parliamentarians identified "omissions" in the resolution of the Council of Ministers of 5 November, which defined emergency measures to deal with the massive damage caused by the storm and floods, namely with regard to specific support for the sectors of commerce and of tourism.
The damage reported to insurers by various economic agents, they recall, "will have exceeded 10 million euros." This is why they consider it necessary to find additional means to help the recovery of economic activity in Baixa de Albufeira.
"We want to take advantage of all the measures available that can help the recovery of companies and the creation of jobs", summed up the deputy José Apolinário, who headed the list of PS for the Algarve to the Assembly of the Republic in the Legislatives of October, in statements to Sul Informação.
In the letter sent to the chairman of the board of directors of the Institute for Support to Small and Medium Enterprises and Innovation (IAPMEI), the deputies defend the «urgency in opening a specific notice within the scope of the “Trade Investe” initiative, aimed at entrepreneurs who have been harmed by the weather'.
«We are certain that, at this stage of events, in addition to the role and intervention of insurance, it is important that, with the sector, namely ACRAL and other trade associations and the municipality of Albufeira, they make themselves available and present all possible alternatives to interested parties. », is read in the letter addressed to IAPMEI.
According to José Apolinário, this program “allows two types of support: individual and collective”. «To the individual, companies can compete, alone, with a view to revitalizing economic activity. The support is up to 30 percent, non-repayable, with a maximum value of 45 thousand euros», he said.
The line for collective projects aims to support proposals for “animation and social dynamisation”. "We need to bring people back to Baixa de Albufeira", he considered.
In the case of companies linked to the tourism sector, the socialists recall that Turismo de Portugal «has active lines of support for treasury and financial consolidation, among others, whose implementation, with the necessary adaptations to the concrete situation in Albufeira, will certainly be one more possibility of support and minimization of bad weather in economic activity».
In this case, the support is not out of pocket, but it can be a way to help small and medium-sized companies to get back on their feet. “We have to launch an oxygen bag for many of the small companies operating in the affected area, which will not be able to survive without it, even with the insurance money”, defended José Apolinário.
Despite the uncertainty about the future Government, José Apolinário considers that this does not prevent these measures "can and should start to be prepared now", and that their implementation "clearly falls within the competences of a managing Government" .
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