SURE protects EU jobs and incomes

Submitted by Imogen Allan on 27 October 2021

The European Commission’s SURE is a €100 billion instrument which aims to protect jobs and incomes affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. 

SURE provides financial support in the form of loans granted on favourable terms from the EU to Member States to finance national short-time work schemes and preserve incomes. The support instrument has been a crucial element of the EU's strategy to protect citizens and mitigate the negative consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic.  

A recent report has found that SURE has been successful in mitigating the socio-economic impacts from the pandemic.  

A total of €94.3 billion of financial assistance has been approved for 19 Member States, of which €89.6 billion has been disbursed. SURE can still provide almost €6 billion of financial assistance to Member States. 

In addition to this, SURE has supported around 31 million people in 2020, of which 22.5 million were employees and 8.5 million self-employed. In addition to this, around 2.5 million companies affected have benefitted from SURE, allowing them to keep their workers. 

All funds were raised as social bonds, giving investors confidence that their money goes towards a social purpose. 

Speaking of the SURE instrument, Valdis Dombrovskis, Executive Vice-President for an Economy that Works for People said: “The SURE scheme has proven its worth and continues to fulfil its purpose. We created it during an emergency to prop up people's incomes, protect their families and preserve their livelihoods when they needed it most. Its success can be measured by the figures in today's report, showing that SURE managed to keep many millions of Europeans in a job during the worst of the crisis. It has played a major part in Europe's overall response, for which we must also thank national governments. As we exit the pandemic, our approach should gradually focus on promoting quality job creation and easing job-to-job transitions through training and other measures.” 

The  first report was published on 22 March 2021. Subsequent reports will follow every six months for as long as SURE remains available. 

You can find the report attached at the bottom of this page. 

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