Commission proposes to provide €230 million to Estonia under SURE

The European Commission has today presented a proposal to the Council for a decision to grant €230 million in financial support to Estonia under the SURE instrument. Today’s proposal brings overall financial support proposed under SURE to a total of €90.6 billion and covering 19 Member States. Once the Council approves this proposal, the financial support will be provided in the form of loans granted on favourable terms. These loans will assist Estonia in covering the costs related to its short-time work scheme and other similar measures that have been introduced in response to the coronavirus pandemic. SURE is a crucial element of the EU’s comprehensive strategy to protect jobs and workers, and mitigate the severely negative socio-economic consequences of the coronavirus pandemic. The Commission has already disbursed €53.5 billion to 15 Member States under SURE, and it expects to undertake most of the remaining borrowing operations in the first half of 2021. Member States can still submit formal requests, including for top-ups in response to the second wave of the pandemic, for support under SURE, which has an overall firepower of up to €100 billion.