Greece Gets €728m in SURE Unemployment Support

Greece is set to receive a total of 728 million euros in funding after the European Commission announced on Tuesday that it had disbursed 14 billion euros in total to nine member states in the fourth instalment of financial support under the SURE unemployment scheme.

The funds, which come as part of the first disbursement in 2021, are aimed at assisting Greece in covering the costs related to the financing of national short-time work schemes and other measures implemented in response to the coronavirus pandemic. 

Greek Finance Minister Christos Staikouras welcomed the announcement and said that the loans would go toward covering national expenses with regard to special purpose compensation and insurance contributions for employees and businesses currently under the furlough scheme. 

Once all SURE disbursements have been completed, Greece will have received a total of 2.7 billion euros.

“I am pleased to announce that Greece has received an additional 728 million euros in loans through SURE to fund part-time systems and support employees,” said European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Tuesday.

“In total, Greece has received 2.7 billion euros from SURE. Europe stands by you,” said von der Leyen via her twitter account.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen

EU states can still submit requests to receive financial support under SURE, which has a total reach of up to 100 billion euros.

Under the same scheme announced on Tuesday, Belgium is slated to receive 2 billion euros, Cyprus 229 million euros, Hungary 304 million euros, Latvia 72 million euros, Poland 4.28 billion euros, Slovenia 913 million euros, Spain 1.03 billion euros, and Italy 4.45 billion euros. 

“Under the SURE program, the EU has mobilized up to 100 billion euros in loans for EU member states to save jobs and keep people in work. The funds are regularly making their way to our member states, helping them financially to mitigate the impact of the coronavirus pandemic,” said von der Leyen.