Commission welcomes decisions to provide €87.4 billion in financial support to 16 Member States under SURE

The European Commission welcomes the Council’s approval to grant €87.4 billion of financial support to 16 Member States under the SURE instrument to help protect jobs and people in work. Financial support will be provided in the form of loans granted on favourable terms from the EU to Member States. Disbursements to Member States are expected to start in the coming weeks. These loans will assist Member States in addressing sudden increases in public expenditure to preserve employment in the context of the pandemic crisis. Specifically, they will help Member States to cover the costs directly related to the financing of national short-time work schemes, and other similar measures they have put in place as a response to the pandemic, in particular for the self-employed. SURE could also finance some health-related measures, in particular at the work place, used to ensure a safe return to normal economic activity. The decisions follow the Commission’s proposals for support presented in August, and the activation of the instrument last week. Member States can still submit formal requests for support under SURE, which has an overall firepower of up to €100 billion to help protect jobs and workers affected by the pandemic.