November 17 (SeeNews) - The European Commission (EC) said that it approved a 20.5 million euro ($23.2 million) Bulgarian scheme for support of bus and coach operators affected by the coronavirus outbreak and the government-imposed restrictive measures aimed at limiting the spread of the virus.
The aid will not exceed 1.8 million euro per company and will be granted no later than December 31, the EC said in a statement on Tuesday.
Under the scheme, the public support will take the form of direct grants. The measure will be open to licensed bus and coach operators that have recorded revenues from the activity of transport of passengers by coach or bus of more than 15,000 euro in 2019.
In addition, in order to be eligible, bus and coach operators must have suffered a decline in turnover of at least 20% in any three months of 2021, compared to the corresponding months in 2019, as well as a revenue decline over 2020 compared to 2019.
The aid amount per beneficiary will be up to 8% of its net revenues from transport activities recorded in 2019, the EC added.
($ = 0.8832 euro)