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(BRUSSELS) – The EU Commission disbursed some EUR 13 billion to six EU Member States Tuesday, under the EU’s SURE programme to help countries with sudden increases in public expenditure to preserve jobs.
This is the third disbursement in 2021. As part of today’s operations, Czechia has received 1 billion, Belgium 2.2 billion, Spain 4.06 billion, Ireland 2.47 billion, Italy 1.87 billion and Poland 1.4 billion. This is the first time that Ireland has received funding under the instrument. The other five EU countries have already benefitted from loans under SURE.
These loans will assist Member States in addressing sudden increases in public expenditure to preserve employment. Specifically, they will help Member States cover the costs directly related to the financing of national short-time work schemes, and other similar measures that they have put in place as a response to the coronavirus pandemic, including for the self-employed. Today’s disbursements follow the issuance of the sixth social bond under the EU SURE instrument, which attracted a considerable interest by investors.
Overall, the Commission has proposed that 19 EU countries will receive 94.3 billion in financial support under SURE. This figure includes the additional 3.7 billion proposed by the Commission today for six Member States.
The full amounts per Member State are online here. Member States can still submit requests to receive financial support under SURE which has an overall firepower of up to 100 billion.
To address Member States’ pending requests for 2021, the Commission will seek from the market further 13-15 billion in the second quarter of 2021.
Later this year, the Commission is due to also launch the borrowing under NextGenerationEU, the recovery instrument of 750 billion to help build a greener, more digital and more resilient Europe.
