In the final stage, compensation for Daniel in Thessaly, with 80% completion and just 21 pending cases projects.

The Deputy Minister of Climate Crisis and Civil Protection Kostas Katsafados highlights the acceleration and operational completion of the state aid mechanism for businesses in Thessaly that were affected by the catastrophic severe weather Daniel (2023 severe weather in Greece), as the entire compensation process is now entering its final settlement phase, with the relevant agencies having processed the vast majority of business claims and reduced pending cases to a minimum, marking the transition from the mass recording of damages to the targeted completion payments, while in Larissa, Magnesia, Trikala, and Karditsa, a high percentage of approved decisions is being recorded, and the picture of a full recovery of business activity in the post-disaster phase is becoming clearer.

The Deputy Minister of Climate Crisis and Civil Protection, responsible for State Aid issues, Kostas Katsafados, as part of ongoing monitoring of the progress of compensation payments and support measures for businesses affected by Storm Daniel.

The meeting

The meeting was attended by the Secretary General for Natural Disaster Recovery and State Aid, Petros Kampouris, and the Head of the General Directorate of State Aid and Coordination, Kalliopi Tetorou.

Representing the Chambers of Commerce were the Vice President of the Karditsa Chamber of Commerce, Petros Papadakos, the president of the Larissa Chamber of Commerce, Christos Giakouvis, and the president of the Magnesia Chamber of Commerce, Aristotelis Basdanis.

“Thessaly bears the brunt of the reconstruction effort and, at the same time, has one of the highest implementation rates. This proves that the government did not limit itself to mere announcements but is producing measurable results for businesses and local communities. Three years after the unprecedented natural disaster caused by Hurricane Daniel, we are now very close to completing an extremely complex process of recovery and support for businesses. “Through planning, perseverance, and the daily work of our agencies, we have managed to significantly accelerate the pace and bring the compensation payments to the final stage of implementation,” said Kostas Katsafados, Deputy Minister of Climate Crisis and Civil Protection.

The data

For his part, the Secretary General for Natural Disaster Recovery, Petros Kampouris, emphasized that Thessaly is the region with the highest concentration of applications from affected businesses, since, as he said, approximately 96% of all businesses included in the process come from the region’s four Regional Units.

As highlighted in a statement from the Ministry of Climate Crisis and Civil Protection, “despite the significantly increased workload, the progress achieved is particularly significant. To date, 4,724 businesses in the Region of Thessaly that were affected by the September 2023 floods have been included in Final Grant Decisions, out of a total of 5,679, representing an 80% completion rate. In other words, four out of five businesses in Thessaly have already secured the funds to repay the remaining 14% of the amount to which they are entitled, while most of the remaining businesses are at an advanced stage of processing.”

According to official data presented by Ms. Kalliopi Tetorou, head of the General Directorate of State Aid and Coordination: Larissa has the highest completion rate, at 88%, having included 817 businesses out of a total of 926 in its decisions. Trikala follows with a rate of 82%, confirming the rapid progress of the procedures. Magnesia, which has the largest number of businesses in Thessaly (2,372), has already completed 79% of the cases, with 1,867 businesses included in grant decisions, while Karditsa has reached 77%, with 975 businesses included in Ministerial Decisions.

Of particular importance, as noted in the relevant announcement, is the fact that “the number of unprocessed applications is now extremely limited, with only 21 cases remaining throughout Thessaly. This fact demonstrates that the effort has moved from the phase of mass registration and processing to the phase of resolving the final outstanding issues.”

The amounts

At the same time, the Central Committee for State Aid (KEKA) to fund the Region of Thessaly and the municipalities of its Regional Units, totaling 25.71 million euros, as follows:

    – 6 million euros for the Region of Thessaly

– 8.65 million euros for the municipalities of the Regional Units of Magnesia and the Sporades

    – 4 million euros for the municipalities of the Trikala Regional Unit

– 3.76 million euros for the municipalities of the Larissa Regional Unit

    – 3.3 million euros for the municipalities of the Karditsa Regional Unit

Reactivation of the Thessaly Pass program

In addition, reference was made to the reactivation of the Thessaly Pass program, with additional funding of 1.5 million euros, aimed at further strengthening the local economy and business activity.

Finally, as stated in the Ministry’s announcement, the representatives of the Chambers of Commerce expressed their satisfaction with the progress of the procedures, noting that the review of applications and the compensation of businesses are now in their final stages, a development that creates positive prospects for the business community and the region’s economic recovery.