Brussels - The European Commission disbursed EUR 913 million to Slovenia in the form of loans under favourable terms as part of the SURE instrument on Tuesday after the country already received EUR 200 million last year to mitigate unemployment risks during the coronavirus pandemic.

The Commission said that it had paid out today a total of EUR 14 billion to nine EU member states.

Since the scheme kicked in, 15 EU member states have received EUR 53.5 billion, of which Slovenia has received slightly more than EUR 1.1 billion, the final sum.

SURE loans are helping EU members to protect jobs and workers from the negative economic and social consequences of the pandemic.

When it applied for SURE funds, Slovenia said it would use them for the furlough and short-time work schemes and the basic income, among other things.

A total of 18 EU members have so far applied for the funds in the total amount of EUR 90.3 billion.

The scheme, based on EUR 25 billion in national guarantees, is still open for applications as a total of EUR 100 billion could be distributed as part of it.

SURE is one of the three pillars of the EU's fiscal package worth EUR 540 billion to help workers, companies and states.