The Council of the European Union also approved Hungary’s € 504 million loan request submitted under the Workplace Protection Program (SURE), the Finance Ministry (PM) said. We previously claimed a double.

The capital necessary to operate the temporary support to mitigate the risk of unemployment will be provided through the issuance of European Union bonds. As a first step, the European Commission issued 17 billion euros in bonds on October 20.

About half of the total borrowing needs of the affected Member States, including Hungary, are expected to be received in 2020, with the remaining amount to be disbursed in early 2021.

According to the Ministry, the favorable condition under SURE is a loan of 504 million euros (184,000 million HUF at the current exchange rate) for the subsequent refinancing of the costs of the occupational health and safety measures introduced after the February 1, 2020. It should be noted here that in mid-September, companies requested 35 billion HUF in wage subsidies for employment protection. True, this was requested after 207,000 people, while the Ministry’s estimates of around 900,000 receive some support.

The Council’s decision means that the European Commission will soon conclude a loan agreement with Hungary and the other affected Member States.

Hungary, by the way, demanded more than that, specifically double the amount received, but the 1 billion euro loan originally requested by the government was ultimately cut because Brussels did not accept many of the proposed measures to preserve employment. The amount of support depends on the percentage of each measure that can be considered job retention.



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