The European Commission has allocated € 14.137 billion to 12 EU Member States in the seventh tranche of financial support under the SURE instrument. As part of recent operations, Belgium 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. For the first time, Bulgaria and Estonia receive funding under the instrument. The other ten EU countries have already benefited from SURE loans.
These SURE loans will help Member States deal with sudden increases in public spending on employment following the coronavirus pandemic. In particular, they will help Member States to cover costs that are directly related to the financing of national Work part-time work and other similar measures introduced in response to the coronavirus pandemic, including for the self-employed. The payments are the result of the seventh issue of social bonds under the EU’s SURE instrument, which attracted significant interest from investors against the background of difficult market conditions in recent days.
With this payment under the SURE instrument, the funds provided by the EU in the form of back-to-back loans amount to almost EUR 90 billion. All EU Member States wishing to benefit from the scheme received part or all of the amount requested. An overview of the amounts paid so far is available online, as well as the full amounts by Member State. A total of 19 EU Member States are to receive a total financial support of € 94.3 billion under SURE following approval by the Council of the European Union on the basis of a Commission proposal. Countries can still apply for financial support under the SURE instrument, which has a total capacity of up to € 100 billion and is available until the end of 2022.
President Ursula von der Leyen said: “With the disbursement, Bulgaria and Estonia will receive funds for the first time, and ten other countries will receive additional support. SURE is an example of European success, which has so far benefited up to 30 million workers and 2.5 million companies. This will also help them recover faster from a pandemic. With the SURE program, the EU has already provided a total of around € 90 billion to 19 Member States. “
Commissioner Johannes Hahn, in charge of budget and administration, said: “After seven SURE emissions, we have already provided almost € 90 billion to 19 Member States to support our businesses and employment. This success paves the way for NextGenerationEU. “
Economic Commissioner Paolo Gentiloni said: “One year after the Council adopted the SURE instrument, we have already paid 90% of the support available: nearly 90 billion euros. In addition to helping European workers and businesses cope with this unprecedented crisis, SURE also saves Member States € 5.8 billion on market funding rates. “
On 18 May 2021, the European Commission issued for the seventh time social bonds under the EU’s SURE instrument. The issue consisted of € 14.137 billion in social bonds in two tranches and was divided into two different maturities – € 8.137 billion maturing in July 2029 and € 6 billion maturing in January 2047. The seventh issue of the EU’s SURE program has been overwritten over 6 times and price information is available online here. All issues attracted strong interest from investors and were placed on the market on favorable price terms, which provided good pricing conditions, which the Commission transferred directly to the beneficiary Member States. Bonds issued by the EU under the SURE instrument have a social bond mark. This gives investors confidence in these bonds that the funds raised will serve to achieve a truly social goal.
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