European Commission to issue EU SURE bonds of up to €100 billion as social bonds

The European Commission announced that it will issue its forthcoming EU SURE bonds of up to €100 billion as social bonds. To that end, the Commission has adopted an independently evaluated Social Bond Framework. This Framework is meant to provide investors in these bonds with confidence that the funds mobilised will serve a truly social objective.

This announcement follows the Council’s approval to grant financial support to 16 Member States under the SURE instrument to help protect jobs and people at work.

President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, said: “We are not only investing billions of euros to save jobs in Europe and reduce the social impact of the coronavirus pandemic, but we are also doing it by issuing social bonds. This will give investors the chance to contribute to our efforts and up to €100 billion will help keep people in jobs in our Member States.”

The funds raised will be transferred to the beneficiary Member States in the form of loans to help them cover the costs directly related to the financing of national short-time work schemes and similar measures as a response to the pandemic.

The Framework demonstrates to the investor community how the funds raised by SURE bond issuance will be used for a clearly identified objective: alleviating the social impact of the coronavirus pandemic and its consequences across the EU. Investors can therefore be confident that their investments in these bonds will be used to finance targeted social policy measures. At the same time, the Commission’s Social Bond Framework will contribute to the further development of the social bond market which is one pillar of the European ‘Sustainable Finance’ market.

In order to guarantee that the funds will be used for social purposes, the Social Bond Framework, underpinned by the SURE Regulation, requires Member States to report on how the borrowed funds have been spent. Under the Framework, Member States are also required to report on the social impact of the EU SURE bonds. Based on the information in these reports, the European Commission will be able to demonstrate to investors that the EU SURE bonds have been used to finance programmes with a positive social impact.

Following the announcement, the Commission is moving one step closer towards the issuance of the first SURE bonds. The first transaction will follow in the second half of October.

Original source: European Commission