The Council of the European Union has approved the European instrument for temporary support to mitigate unemployment risks in an emergency (SURE) in relation to the Covid-19 pandemic, as part of which Slovenia is to get EUR 1.1 billion in support funds.
Slovenia has applied for funding for measures including support to furloughed workers, short-time work, income support, state-covered social contributions for the self-employed and other groups, and several other measures.
SURE will provide financial support in the form of low-interest loans to 16 EU member states worth a total of EUR 87.4 billion, the Council decided on Friday.
When Slovenia applied for the scheme in mid-August, the Finance Ministry said that the European Commission could take out loans at favourable terms, even if the gap to Slovenia’s interest rates has “decreased substantially.”
It explained that “investors perceive Slovenia as part of a group of stable and trust-worthy eurozone countries”, but added that SURE reduced the need to take out new debt for the financing of the state budget with other financing instruments.