Member States’ ambassadors to the EU agreed, after a brief exchange on Friday 15 May at a meeting of the Committee of Permanent Representatives (Coreper II), to the EU’s SURE instrument for temporary support to mitigate unemployment risks in an emergency.
Although there was no vote at this stage, as the written procedure has now started and is due to end on Tuesday, no national delegations have expressed their opposition, which is believed to signal a smooth adoption. The process of releasing the guarantees can begin immediately afterwards.
The Ambassadors had given their political agreement in principle, but some national delegations, including the Netherlands, were still waiting for some adjustments on the issue of guarantees before giving their approval to the text (see EUROPE 12486/11).
The SURE instrument was presented by the Commission at the beginning of April. It aims to provide financial assistance in the form of a loan to all Member States who wish to do so by allowing them to finance themselves on the markets in order to finance their national short-time working schemes (see EUROPE 12457/9), but also certain health-related costs in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic (see EUROPE 12476/6). With the help of a guarantee from the Member States of up to €25 billion, the European Commission hopes to raise €100 billion. (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)