The Diplomat
Spain received yesterday a new tranche of 1.03 billion from the European Commission’s SURE instrument to help states finance labor costs related to the coronavirus pandemic.
“Spain has today received more than €1 billion in loans under our SURE instrument”, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen reported via Twitter. “SURE will support short-term job plans and help protect jobs and livelihoods in Spain with a total of €21.3 billion. Europe is with you”, she added.
Altogether, the European Commission yesterday disbursed €14 billion to nine Member States under the fourth tranche of SURE. Specifically, Belgium received €2 billion; Cyprus, €229 million; Hungary, €304 million; Latvia, €72 million; Poland, €4.28 billion; Slovenia, €913 million; Spain, €1.03 billion; Greece, €728 million; and Italy, €4.45 billion. These nine member states had already obtained financial assistance through SURE in some of the first three issues and disbursement operations that took place in 2020.
The loans will help Member States cover costs directly related to the financing of national working time reduction schemes and other similar measures taken in response to the coronavirus pandemic, including those for the self-employed. In the case of Spain, they will make it possible to cover ERTEs, the extraordinary benefit for the self-employed, the temporary incapacity benefit for those affected by the virus or the support for discontinuous permanent workers.
According to the Commission, yesterday’s disbursements were preceded by the issuance of the fourth social bond under the EU SURE instrument, “which attracted a considerable interest by investors”. “The notable oversubscription was translated into favourable pricing terms, which the Commission is directly passing on to the benefitting Member States”, it added.
Following yesterday’s disbursements, 15 Member States have received a total of €53.5 billion under the SURE instrument. Once all SURE disbursements are completed, Spain will have received EUR 21.3 billion, of which 11.03 billion has arrived so far (EUR 6 billion in October, EUR 4 billion in November and yesterday’s EUR 1.03 billion), just over 50% of the total amount allocated.
Apart from that, Belgium will have received 7.8 billion; Cyprus, 479 million; Hungary, 504 million; Latvia, 192 million; Poland, 11.2 billion; Slovenia, 1.1 billion; Greece, 2.7 billion; and Italy, 27.4 billion euros. Member states can still submit applications for financial assistance under SURE, which has an overall capacity of up to €100 billion.
