SURE Program Ready to Protect Jobs in EU

The European Commission on Tuesday welcomed the activation of the SURE instrument, which will provide up to 100 billion euros in financial support to help protect jobs and workers affected by the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic.

According to European Commissioner for Economy Paolo Gentiloni, the SURE instrument is now available and ready to be deployed in the coming weeks.

The announcement follows the finalisation of national approval procedures and signatures by all Member States to provide for the guarantee agreements with the Commission worth a total of 25 billion euros.

“These guarantees are necessary to expand the volume of loans that can be provided to Member States while safeguarding the Union’s prime credit rating and strong position on international capital markets,” the Commission said.

The Commission has already presented proposals to the Council for decisions to grant financial support of 87.3 billion euros to 16 Member States under the SURE instrument. Once the Council adopts these proposals, the financial support will be provided in the form of loans granted on favourable terms from the EU to Member States.

The loans will assist Member States in addressing sudden increases in public expenditure to preserve employment in the context of the pandemic crisis.

Greece – 2.73bn from SURE

Photo Source @European Commission

For Greece, the projected financial support reaches 2.73 billion euros. The Greek authorities applied to the Commission for support through SURE on August 6, focusing on five categories of expenditure to support employment and the income of employees:

– The special compensation for private sector employees whose contracts were suspended due to the crisis.
– The cost of their insurance obligations while their contracts were suspended.
– The special subsidy for the self-employed.
– The Syn-Ergasia employment program for businesses .
– The coverage of the insurance obligations of the employers for seasonal employees in the service sector.