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| SURE (Support to mitigate Unemployment Risks in an Emergency) | |
|---|---|
| Name | SURE (Support to mitigate Unemployment Risks in an Emergency) |
| Launched | 2020 |
| Administered by | European Commission / European Union institutions |
| Type | Financial assistance instrument |
| Funding | EU borrowing in capital markets |
| Target | Member states affected by employment shocks |
| Status | Active/Completed operations |
SURE (Support to mitigate Unemployment Risks in an Emergency) is a temporary financial assistance instrument established by the European Commission and supported by the Council of the European Union and the European Parliament to provide loans to Member States facing sudden increases in public expenditure linked to short-time work schemes and similar labour-market measures. Conceived during the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020, SURE aimed to preserve jobs and stabilise social protection systems across the Eurozone and beyond by enabling coordinated public debt issuance and targeted support to national programmes.
SURE was proposed by Ursula von der Leyen of the European Commission and negotiated among leaders such as Angela Merkel, Emmanuel Macron, Giuseppe Conte, Pedro Sánchez, and Mark Rutte amid the economic fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic. The initiative drew on precedents including the European Financial Stability Facility, the European Stability Mechanism, and instruments developed during the 2008 financial crisis led by figures like Mario Draghi and institutions such as the International Monetary Fund and Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Political discussions referenced legal frameworks established under the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union and budgetary rules debated in the European Council and Eurogroup meetings.
The primary objective was to reduce sudden increases in unemployment and to support measures such as short-time work schemes, wage subsidies, and similar national programmes implemented by Member States including Italy, Spain, Germany, Poland, and Greece. SURE sought to complement actions by the European Central Bank and national authorities, aligning with broader recovery plans like the Next Generation EU package and interacting with funds managed by the European Investment Bank and European Social Fund. The scope covered temporary liquidity needs for measures that preserve employment relationships and stabilise household incomes.
SURE raised funds via joint EU borrowing under guarantees provided by Member States, coordinated by the European Commission with credit enhancement through guarantees similar in principle to those underpinning the European Stability Mechanism and European Investment Bank operations. The Commission issued social bonds in capital markets with participation from institutional investors such as European Investment Fund stakeholders and was assessed by credit rating agencies that include Moody's Investors Service, Standard & Poor's, and Fitch Ratings. Implementation relied on administrative cooperation between the Commission, the European Court of Auditors, and national authorities in line with procedures endorsed by the European Parliament and overseen by the Council of the European Union.
Eligible measures included short-time work schemes similar to Germany’s Kurzarbeit, wage supplementation programmes in Spain and Portugal, self-employed income support in France, and other national instruments that preserve employment ties, as practised in countries like Belgium and Netherlands. Beneficiaries were national treasuries or ministries of labour such as the Italian Ministry of Labour and Social Policies and the Ministry of Labour and Social Security (Spain), which implemented schemes benefiting employees, self-employed workers, and employers complying with national legal frameworks, including social partners like European Trade Union Confederation and employer associations such as BusinessEurope.
Member States submitted requests to the European Commission detailing the expected additional expenditure, based on statistical evidence from agencies like Eurostat and labour market indicators tracked by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Approval criteria assessed eligibility, the temporary nature of measures, and the size of requested loans relative to national budgets, with final disbursement decisions adopted by the Council of the European Union upon Commission proposal and subject to safeguards from the European Court of Auditors. The procedure mirrored mechanisms used for structural programmes co-ordinated with institutions including the European Investment Bank and national finance ministries.
Recipient Member States were obliged to ensure that funds were used for designated measures, to report regularly to the European Commission and to allow audits by the European Court of Auditors. Monitoring involved compliance checks with commitments reported to the Eurogroup and statistical verification by Eurostat, while political oversight came from the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union. Conditions emphasised transparency, temporary implementation, and consistency with rules under the Treaty on European Union and the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union.
SURE disbursed loans to several Member States, contributing to the financing of national short-time work schemes and income-support measures in countries such as Italy, Spain, Poland, Greece, and Belgium. Evaluations by academia and institutions like the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion and think tanks including Bruegel, Centre for European Policy Studies, and European Policy Centre examined its effectiveness in preserving employment and stabilising consumption relative to interventions by the European Central Bank and national fiscal responses. Comparative analyses referenced experiences from the 2008 financial crisis, programmes administered by the International Labour Organization, and recovery strategies coordinated under Next Generation EU. Ongoing assessments consider SURE’s role in crisis-response architecture and its implications for future European Union fiscal instruments.