Background information

On 21 October 2020 the European Commission issued a €17 billion inaugural social bonds under the the European instrument for temporary Support to mitigate Unemployment Risks in an Emergency (SURE) to help protect jobs and keep people in work. The issuing consisted of two bonds, with €10 billion due for repayment in October 2030 and €7 billion due for repayment in 2040.

SURE is available for Member States that need to mobilise significant financial means to fight the negative economic and social consequences of the coronavirus outbreak on their territory. It can provide financial assistance up to €100 billion in the form of loans from the EU to affected Member States. SURE would provide additional EU support to finance Member States' short-time work schemes, and other similar measures, helping to protect jobs.

Content of measure

There was very strong investor interest in this highly rated instrument, and the bonds were more than 13 times oversubscribed, resulting in favourable pricing terms for both bonds. Both bonds were issued on attractive terms, reflecting the high level of interest. The 10-year bond was priced at 3 basis points above mid-swaps. The 20-year bond was priced at 14 basis points over mid-swaps. The final new issue premiums have been estimated at 1 bps and 2 bps for the 10-year and 20-year tranches respectively, both values being extremely limited given the amounts printed. The banks that supported the European Commission with this transaction (“joint bookrunners”) were Barclays (IRL), BNP Paribas, Deutsche Bank, Nomura and UniCredit.

Use of measure

Not known yet.

Target groups

Workers	Businesses	Citizens
Applies to all workers	Applies to all businesses	Applies to all citizens

Actors and funding

Actors	Funding
National government EU (Council, EC, EP)	European Funds

Social partners

Social partners' role in designing the measure and form of involvement:

	Trade unions	Employers' organisations
Role	Informed	Informed
Form	Not applicable	Not applicable

Social partners' role in the implementation, monitoring and assessment phase:

• Unknown
• Main level of involvement: EU level

Involvement

No direct involvement of European social partners.

Views and reactions

European social partners approach toward SURE instrument was positive since very beginning of this initiative.

Sources

• 02 April 2020: EU urged to swiftly approve 'SURE' to save jobs from C19 breakdown (www.etuc.org)
• 30 April 2020: BUSINESSEUROPE proposals for a European economic recovery plan (www.businesseurope.eu)
• 14 October 2020: European Commission issues first emission of EU SURE social bonds