In 2020, the SURE support instrument for national short-time working schemes provided assistance to almost a quarter of workers in the eighteen beneficiary Member States - approximately 21.5 million employees and 5 million self-employed workers - according to an interim report published by the European Commission on Monday 22 March on one of the three safety nets the EU has put in place to tackle the Covid-19 pandemic (see EUROPE 12679/3).
The Commission stresses that the impact of this innovative instrument goes “beyond” simply preserving jobs. It believes the SURE instrument demonstrates that the EU has responded effectively and quickly to an unprecedented crisis. A majority of Member States indicated that the instrument played a role in their decision to adopt a new short-time work scheme or to modify an existing scheme. And the coverage and level of aid has often been more generous as a result of EU support.
To finance the SURE instrument, the Commission borrowed on the financial markets on behalf of the Member States. It notes the success of the bonds issuances, with investor demand typically ten times higher than the number of bonds issued. Interest rates are also very low, and negative for bonds maturing in less than 15 years. It is estimated that the joint borrowing operation resulted in savings on interest payments of up to €5.8 billion during the first four debt issuance transactions.
Unlike the grants from the European recovery plan, SURE loans increase the beneficiary countries’ public debt.
Of the total budget of €100 billion available, €90 billion has been allocated to eighteen Member States. The main beneficiaries are Italy (€27.4 billion), Spain (€21.3 billion) and Poland (€11.2 billion).
The report can be found at: https://bit.ly/3f4G8tY (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)