Confederation of Independent Trade Unions in Bulgaria (CITUB) announced that Bulgaria lags far behind other Member States in terms of absorption of funds from the European Union's Temporary Support to Mitigate Unemployment Risks in Emergency (SURE) provided to companies during the pandemic.

The Trade union organization cited the latest figures from the European Commission, namely that the country has absorbed EUR 500 million. By comparison, neighbouring Romania has absorbed EUR 4 billion.

Under SURE, financial assistance is rendered in the form of loans granted by the EU to Member States on favorable terms.

In total, the funds distributed are tad over EUR 90 billion. This means that the 500 million euro account for only 0.55 percent of the total amount, commented CITUB economics expert Lyuboslav Kostov.

"No matter how much money we withdraw under SURE it will not have a negative effect on the deficit, which is record low against the backdrop of other countries," he said, stressing that the funds could have been used as an additional buffer to implement more reforms and provide more support for businesses and people.

CITUB experts reminded that the cost of socio-economic measures is at least 6.7 percent as a share of Bulgaria’s GDP compared to other countries - at an EU average of about 14 percent.

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