Brussels disburses EUR 14.1 bn for Covid employment support
Coronavirus - Photo © European Union
(BRUSSELS) - The European Commission disbursed some EUR 14,137 billion to 12 EU Member States Tuesday, in the seventh instalment of financial support under the EU's SURE instrument.
As part of the operations, Belgium has received €2 billion, Bulgaria €511 million, Cyprus €124 million, Greece €2.54 billion, Spain €3.37 billion, Italy €751 million, Lithuania €355 million, Latvia €113 million, Malta €177 million, Poland €1.56 billion, Portugal €2.41 billion and Estonia €230 million. This is the first time that Bulgaria and Estonia are receiving funding under the instrument. The other ten EU countries have already benefitted from loans under SURE.
These SURE loans will assist Member States in addressing sudden increases in public expenditure to preserve employment following the coronavirus pandemic. 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. The disbursements follow the issuance of the seventh social bond under the EU SURE instrument, which attracted a considerable interest by investors amid challenging market conditions in recent days.
With this SURE disbursement, the EU has provided nearly €90 billion in back-to-back loans. All EU Member States which have asked to benefit from the scheme have received part or all of the requested amount. The overview of the amounts disbursed so far is available online, as are the full amounts per Member State.
Overall, 19 EU Member States are due to receive a total of €94.3 billion in financial support under SURE, following approval by the Council of the European Union based on a Commission proposal. Countries can still submit requests to receive financial support under SURE which has an overall firepower of up to €100 billion and is available until end 2022.