The Commission has recently proposed the SURE instrument allowing for financial aid of up to EUR 100 billion in the form of favourable loans from the EU to member states affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and the consequent corona crisis.
Explaining the purpose of the instrument, Finance Minister Zdravko Maric said that by signing the €95.7 million guarantee agreement Croatia would be entitled to four times higher amounts of aid under this scheme.
The agreement will be signed with the EC based on the Council regulation on the establishment of the SURE instrument after the outbreak of the novel coronavirus disease.
SURE is one of the three safety nets whose total value is put at €540 billion, which will be allocated for job preservation and as assistance to enterprises and member states.
The SURE instrument will be available after all member states provide their respective guarantees according to their share in the EU's Gross National Income.
One of its aims is to help in the implementation of the shortened working hours scheme, Maric added.
At the beginning of today's cabinet meeting, Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic said that the job-preservation measures taken by the Croatian government had produced "extremely good results".
In April the grants of HRK 4,000 per employee were used by 97,000 employers for more than 550,000 workers on their payrolls. In March, 87,000 employers used those grants for about 500,000 employees.
The government has to date allocated HRK 5.5 billion for that purpose.
Labour Minister Josip Aladrovic said that the amount could rise to HRK 8.6 billion until the end of this month.
In the last 14 days unemployment has decreased, he added.
(€1 = HRK 7.583419)