A recent report published today has confirmed the significant role played by the SURE instrument in mitigating the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and supporting the recovery efforts across the European Union. The report highlights the effectiveness of SURE in protecting jobs and incomes during the challenging times brought about by the pandemic.
In 2020, the SURE instrument, with its nearly €100 billion budget, provided support to approximately 31.5 million employees, self-employed individuals, and over 2.5 million businesses affected by the pandemic. SURE successfully encouraged Member States to implement comprehensive short-time work schemes and similar measures, enabling companies to retain their employees and skills, while also supporting self-employed individuals.
The final bi-annual report on the implementation and impact of SURE reveals its crucial role in mitigating the pandemic’s effects in 2020 and facilitating a swift economic rebound in 2021, surpassing the recovery pace observed in previous crises. The European instrument for temporary Support to mitigate Unemployment Risks in an Emergency (SURE) concluded its operations on 31st December 2022.
Overall, a total of €98.4 billion of financial assistance was disbursed to 19 Member States, including Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Estonia, Greece, Spain, Croatia, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Lithuania, Latvia, Malta, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Slovakia, and Czechia. This amount was close to the maximum budget of €100 billion, and an additional ‘top-up’ financial assistance of €5 billion was granted to eight Member States in autumn 2022. Rigorous monitoring was carried out in early 2023 to ensure the effective absorption of all the financial assistance provided through SURE.
To finance the instrument, the European Commission issued social bonds on behalf of the European Union, establishing itself as the world’s largest social bond issuer.
Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, emphasized the significant impact of SURE, stating, “SURE is the EU at its best. The program helped save millions of jobs during the COVID-19 pandemic and supported EU businesses in retaining their workforce. SURE paved the way for our recovery plan NextGenerationEU, which marked a successful and unified European response to the crisis.”
Key findings from the report include:
In 2020:
- National policy support measures safeguarded approximately 1.5 million individuals from unemployment, with SURE-funded schemes accounting for the majority of this impact, as indicated by new simulations.
- SURE supported nearly one-third of total employment, amounting to around 31.5 million employees and self-employed individuals, and over one-quarter of firms, totaling over 2.5 million businesses, across the 19 beneficiary Member States.
- Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) were the primary beneficiaries of SURE support.
- Contact-intensive service sectors such as accommodation and food services, wholesale and retail trade, as well as manufacturing, received significant support.
In 2021:
- SURE continued to protect employment, especially in the first half of the year when the pandemic had a severe negative impact. It supported approximately 9 million people (15% of total employment) and over 900,000 firms (15% of firms) in the 15 Member States that utilized SURE in 2021.
In 2022:
- There was a phased-out approach to national support measures, with four Member States extending their measures until early 2022. Under SURE, continued support was provided to 350,000 individuals and 40,000 firms in these countries.
To date:
- All public expenditure allocated through SURE has been utilized