CDU parliamentary group leader Mario Voigt has asked the state government to stop repayment claims to small businesses for emergency corona aid. There are legal concerns as to whether the state’s claims in the millions are legal, Voigt said on Thursday in Erfurt as justification. It’s about 17,500 people affected. There are legal concerns because the aid was initially paid according to state and later federal rules.

Voigt accused the state government of suspecting thousands of small business owners of having received government money unfairly. There were around 34,000 applications for help totaling 213.5 million euros for money from the state program, which was intended to provide short-term help in the event of damage caused by the pandemic.