European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced on Tuesday the disbursement of 728 million euros to Greece in the framework of the EU’s SURE financial support program. Von der Leyen made the announcement in Greek on Twitter where she also announced the SURE share for other EU member states also in their native language.
Είμαι στην ευχάριστη θέση να ανακοινώσω ότι σήμερα η 🇬🇷 έλαβε επιπλέον 728εκ. € σε δάνεια μέσω του SURE για να χρηματοδοτήσει συστήματα μειωμένου ωραρίου εργασίας & να στηρίξει τους εργαζομένους.
Συνολικά,η Ελλάδα έχει λάβει 2,7δισ. € από το SURE.
Η Ευρώπη στέκεται δίπλα σου.
— Ursula von der Leyen (@vonderleyen) February 2, 2021
In Greek, the Commission President tweeted: “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. In total, Greece has received 2.7 billion euros from SURE. Europe stands by you.”
Finance Minister Christos Staikouras welcomed the second disbursement of funds to Greece through the SURE programme, noting that this came just 10 months after the Eurogroup’s decision to create a “safety net” for workers and nine months after it was established by the European Council.
“The government has used and continues to use in an optimal manner, with economic efficiency and social reciprocity, both domestic and European funds in order to minimise the repercussions of the health crisis on households and businesses as much as possible and ensure the best possible starting point for the post-coronavirus period and the country’s course toward recovery,” he said.
The government has also applied to the European Commission for the disbursement of additional funds that are unused on a European level from the SURE programme.
The funds are an extremely low to zero-interest loan and are directed at actions to support employees and employers during the pandemic. They include the payment of social insurance contributions for workers on furlough, seasonal workers and the SYN-ERGASIA programme.
