Greece Welcomes Extra €2.5bn Under Commission’s SURE Tool

Greek Finance Minister Christos Staikouras welcomed the news of the European Commission’s proposal for the approval of 2.5 billion euros in additional financial assistance to mitigate unemployment among others from the EU’s SURE tool.

Greece together with Belgium, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, and Malta will be granted 3.7 billion euros in funding out of the 100-billion-euro SURE instrument designed to protect jobs and incomes affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. 

The Commission recommended the Council grant the support after assessing formal requests for additional aid under SURE submitted by the six EU countries in addition to the funding that the Council has already approved.

This brings the total financial assistance proposed by the Commission under SURE to 94.3 billion euros for 19 member states. 

Greece will in turn receive a total of 5.2 billion euros under the SURE instrument.

Photo source: European Commission

“In less than two months after the Greek government submitted its request to the European Commission for additional – unallocated on a European level – resources from the SURE Program, the Commission today proposed the allocation of an additional 2.5 billion euros for our country,” said Staikouras, adding that “together with the 2.7 billion euros that have already been disbursed to Greece through the program, the total aid, aimed at supporting employment, will amount to 5.2 billion euros”.

The funds come in the form of a loan with low to zero borrowing costs and will cover Covid-19 support measures for employees and employers which have been implemented since the beginning of the health crisis in order to preserve jobs, the minister said.