The European Commission indicated in a statement that, on Thursday, 25 August, it presented the EU Council with a proposal for a decision to grant Bulgaria €460 million in additional financial support under the SURE instrument—the instrument for temporary support to mitigate unemployment risks in an emergency—which will bring total support provided to the country to €971 million.
The envisaged financial assistance, in the form of loans granted on favourable terms, will help Bulgaria “cover the costs related to the continuation of a wage subsidy scheme, introduced in response to the coronavirus pandemic, and thereby tackle the continued severe socio-economic impact of the COVID-19 crisis”. Bulgaria is the eighth Member State—along with Belgium, Cyprus, Greece, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, and Hungary—to request additional support on top of what the EU Council had already approved in 2020.
If approved by the Council of the EU, this new aid will bring the overall financial support granted under SURE to €93.8 billion. Nineteen Member States have already received support under SURE. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)