Proposal for a COUNCIL IMPLEMENTING DECISION granting temporary support under Council Regulation (EU) 2020/672 to Romania to mitigate unemployment risks in an emergency situation following the COVID-19 outbreak
Date: 2020-08-24
Institutions: Directorate-General for Economic and Financial Affairs, European Commission
Subjects: EU loan, Romania, emergency aid, employment aid, epidemic, fight against unemployment, infectious disease, public expenditure, self-employed person

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   EUROPEAN COMMISSION  Brussels, 24.8.2020  COM(2020) 439 final 2020/0211 (NLE)  Proposal for a COUNCIL IMPLEMENTING DECISION granting temporary support under Council Regulation (EU) 2020/672 to Romania to mitigate unemployment risks in an emergency situation following the COVID-19 outbreak  
 
EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM 

1. 

• 

CONTEXT OF THE PROPOSAL 

Reasons for and objectives of the proposal 

Council  Regulation  2020/672  (“SURE  Regulation”)  lays  down  the  legal  framework  for 
providing  Union  financial  assistance  to  Member  States,  which  are  experiencing,  or  are 
seriously threatened with, a severe economic disturbance caused by the COVID-19 outbreak. 
Support  under  SURE  serves  for  the  financing,  primarily,  of  short-time  work  schemes  or 
similar measures aimed at protecting employees and the self‐ employed and thus reducing the 
incidence of unemployment and loss of income, as well as for the financing, as an ancillary, 
of some health-related measures, in particular in the workplace. 

On  7  August  2020,  Romania  requested  Union  financial  assistance  under  the  SURE 
Regulation.  In  accordance  with  Article  6(2)  of  the  SURE  Regulation,  the  Commission  has 
consulted  the  Romanian  authorities  to  verify  the  sudden  and  severe  increase  in  actual  and 
planned public expenditure incurred in the response to the COVID-19 pandemic and directly 
related to Romania’s short-time work schemes and similar measures, as well as health-related 
measures. In particular, it concerns: 

(1) 

(2) 

(3) 

(4) 

(5) 

(6) 

a benefit to employees of employers that reduce or temporarily interrupt their activity 
due to the effects of the COVID-19 outbreak. The benefit is capped at 75% of their 
basic salary (but no more than 75% of the average gross salary in the economy) for 
the duration of the state of emergency. 

a benefit for persons whose employment contract was suspended for at least 15 days 
during the state of emergency or alert, provided that their employment relationship is 
maintained  until  31  December  2020.  The  benefit  amounts  to  41.5%  of  their  gross 
basic salary (but no more than 41.5% of the average gross salary in the economy).  

a  short-time  work  scheme,  under  which  in  the  event  of  a  temporary  reduction  of 
activity caused by the state of emergency or alert the employer has the possibility to 
reduce the working hours of employees by up to 50%. During the period of working 
time reduction, affected employees would benefit from an indemnity of 75% of the 
difference between the gross salary for normal working time and their actual salary. 

two  measures  for  the  self-employed  and  liberal  professions:  for  those  that  stopped 
work  entirely  due  to  the  effects  of  the  COVID-19  outbreak,  the  state  provides  a 
benefit  of  75%  of  their  average  gross  salary.  For  those  that  reduce  their  working 
hours, the state provides a benefit of up to 41.5% of their average gross salary. 

a  measure  providing  a  support  allowance  of  35%  of  the  due  remuneration  per 
working  day,  for  a  maximum  period  of  3  months,  for  daily  labourers  who  stop 
working as a result of the suspension of business activities due to the effects of the 
COVID-19 outbreak. 

a  bonus  for  additional  work  for  the  personnel  of  the  specialty  structures  of  the 
National Public Health Institute and the county public health directorates and/or the 
public  health  directorate  of  Bucharest  which  act  towards  coordinating  and 
implementing  the  measures  of  prevention  and  limitation  of  events  declared  global 
public health emergency by the WHO  as a result of the infections with COVID-19. 
The measure provides a benefit equivalent to 75% of the basic salary, for the hours 
worked  over  the  normal  working  hours,  and  to  100%  of  the  basic  salary,  for  the 

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hours  worked  on  weekends,  legal  holidays  and  other  days  not  counted  as  working 
days.  

(7) 

a childcare bonus for the employees of the national system of defence, penitentiaries, 
public  health  units  and  other  categories  established  through  ministerial  orders.  The 
benefit is conditional on the other parent not benefitting from alternative rights that 
grant  days  off  to  parents  for  the  supervision  of  children  in  the  event  of  temporary 
closure of educational units.  

(8) 

a  bonus  for  particular  danger  conditions  of  up  to  30%  of  their  salary  for  medical 
personnel that participate in the medical actions against COVID-19. 

Romania provided the Commission with the relevant information.  

Taking into account the available evidence, the Commission proposes to the Council to adopt 
an  Implementing  Decision  to  grant  financial  assistance  to  Romania  under  the  SURE 
Regulation in support of the above measures. 

• 

Consistency with existing policy provisions in the policy area 

The present proposal is fully consistent with  Council Regulation 2020/672, under which the 
proposal is made. 

The present proposal comes in addition to another Union law instrument to provide support to 
Member States in case of emergencies, namely Council Regulation (EC) No 2012/2002 of 11 
November 2002 establishing the European Union Solidarity Fund (EUSF) (“Regulation (EC) 
No 2012/2002”). Regulation (EU) 2020/461 of the European Parliament and of the Council, 
which amends that instrument to  extend its scope to  cover major public  health emergencies 
and to define specific operations eligible for financing, was adopted on 30 March.   

• 

Consistency with other Union policies 

The proposal is part of a range of measures developed in response to the current COVID-19 
pandemic  such  as  the  “Coronavirus  Response  Investment  Initiative”,  and  it  complements 
other  instruments  that  support  employment  such  as  the  European  Social  Fund  and  the 
European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI)/InvestEU. By making use of borrowing and 
lending in this particular case of the COVID-19 outbreak for supporting Member States, this 
proposal  acts  as  a  second  line  of  defence  to  finance  short-time  work  schemes  and  similar 
measures,  helping  protect  jobs  and  thus  employees  and  self-employed  against  the  risk  of 
unemployment.  

2. 

• 

LEGAL BASIS, SUBSIDIARITY AND PROPORTIONALITY 

Legal basis 

The legal basis for this instrument is Council Regulation 2020/672.   

• 

Subsidiarity (for non-exclusive competence)  

The  proposal  follows  a  Member  State  request  and  shows  European  solidarity  by  providing 
Union financial assistance in the form of temporary loans to a Member State affected by the 
COVID-19  outbreak.  As  a  second  line  of  defence,  such  financial  assistance  supports  the 
government’s increased public expenditure on a temporary basis in respect of short-time work 
schemes  and  similar  measures  to  help  them  protect  jobs  and  thus  employees  and  self-
employed against the risk of unemployment and loss of income. 

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Such  support  will  help  the  population  affected  and  helps  to  mitigate  the  direct  societal  and 
economic impact caused by the present COVID-19 crisis.  

• 

Proportionality 

The proposal respects the proportionality principle. It does not go beyond what is necessary to 
achieve the objectives sought by the instrument.  

3. 

• 

RESULTS 
CONSULTATIONS AND IMPACT ASSESSMENTS 

EX-POST 

EVALUATIONS, 

OF 

STAKEHOLDER 

Stakeholder consultations 

Due to the urgency to prepare the proposal so that it can be adopted in a timely manner by the 
Council, a stakeholder consultation could not be carried out. 

• 

Impact assessment 

Due to the urgent nature of the proposal, no impact assessment was carried out. 

4. 

BUDGETARY IMPLICATIONS 

The  Commission  should  be  able  to  contract  borrowings  on  the  financial  markets  with  the 
purpose  of  on-lending  them  to  the  Member  State  requesting  financial  assistance  under  the 
SURE instrument.  

In  addition  to  the  provision  of  Member  State  guarantees,  other  safeguards  are  built  into  the 
framework in order to ensure the financial solidity of the scheme: 

 

 

A rigorous and conservative approach to financial management; 

A  construction  of  the  portfolio  of  loans  that  limits  concentration  risk,  annual 
exposure and excessive exposure to individual Member States whilst ensuring 
sufficient resources could be granted to Member States most in need; and 

 

Possibilities to roll over debt. 

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2020/0211 (NLE) 

Proposal for a 

COUNCIL IMPLEMENTING DECISION 

granting temporary support under Council Regulation (EU) 2020/672 to Romania to 
mitigate unemployment risks in an emergency situation following the COVID-19 
outbreak 

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION, 

Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,  

Having regard to Council Regulation (EU) 2020/672 of 19 May 2020 on the establishment of 
a  European  instrument  for  temporary  support  to  mitigate  unemployment  risks  in  an 
emergency (SURE) following the COVID-19 outbreak1, and in particular Article 6(1) thereof, 

Having regard to the proposal from the European Commission, 

Whereas: 

(1) 

(2) 

(3) 

(4) 

(5) 

On  7  August  2020,  Romania  requested  financial  assistance  from  the  Union  with  a 
view  to  complementing  its  national  efforts  to  address  the  impact  of  the  COVID-19 
outbreak and its socio-economic consequences for workers.  

The COVID-19 outbreak and the extraordinary measures implemented by Romania to 
contain the outbreak and its socio-economic and health-related impact are expected to 
have  a  dramatic  impact  on  public  finances.  According  to  the  Commission’s  2020 
Spring forecast, Romania was expected to have a general government deficit and debt 
of 9.2% and 46.2% of gross domestic product (GDP) respectively by the end of 2020. 
According  to  the  Commission’s  2020  Summer  interim  forecast,  Romania’s  GDP  is 
projected to decrease by 6.0% in 2020.  

The  COVID-19  outbreak  has  immobilised  a  substantial  part  of  the  labour  force  in 
Romania.  This  has  led  to  a  sudden  and  severe  increase  in  public  expenditure  by 
Romania  in  respect  of  short-time  work  schemes  and  similar  measures,  as  well  as 
health-related measures, as set out in recitals 4 to 11.  
“Government  Emergency  Ordinance  30/20202”,  as  it  is  referred  to  in  Romania’s 
request of 7 August 2020, provides a benefit to employees of employers that reduce or 
temporarily interrupt their activity due to the effects of the COVID-19 outbreak. The 
benefit is  capped at  75% of their basic salary (but  no more than 75% of the average 
gross salary in the economy) for the duration of the state of emergency. 
“Government  Emergency  Ordinance  92/2020”3,  as  it  is  referred  to  in  Romania’s 
request  of  7  August  2020,  introduced  a  benefit  for  persons  whose  employment 
contract  was  suspended  for  at  least  15  days  during  the  state  of  emergency  or  alert, 
provided  that  their  employment  relationship  is  maintained  until  31  December  2020. 

1 
2 
3 

OJ L 159, 20.5.2020, p.1. 
Published in Official Monitor 231 of 21 March 2020. 
Published in Official Monitor 459 of 29 May 2020. 

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(6) 

(7) 

(8) 

(9) 

The benefit amounts to 41.5% of their gross basic salary (but no more than 41.5% of 
the average gross salary in the economy).  
“Government Emergency Ordinance 132/2020”4 introduced a short-time work scheme, 
under which, in the event of a temporary reduction of activity caused by the state of 
emergency  or  alert,  the  employer  has  the  possibility  to  reduce  the  working  hours  of 
employees  by  up  to  50%.  During  the  period  of  working  time  reduction,  affected 
employees  benefit  from  an  indemnity  of  75%  of  the  difference  between  the  gross 
salary for normal working time and their actual salary. 

For  the  self-employed  and  liberal  professions,  two  measures  were  introduced.  For 
those that stopped work entirely due to the effects of the COVID-19 outbreak, the state 
provides  a  benefit  of  75%  of  their  average  gross  salary5.  For  those  that  reduce  their 
working  hours,  the  state  provides  a  benefit  of  up  to  41.5%  of  their  average  gross 
salary. 

For  daily  labourers  who  stop  working  as  a  result  of  the  suspension  of  business 
activities  due  to  the  effects  of  the  COVID-19  outbreak,  the  authorities  introduced  a 
measure providing a support allowance of 35% of the due remuneration per working 
day, for a maximum period of 3 months. 
“Government  Emergency  Ordinance  11/2020”6,  as  it  is  referred  to  in  Romania’s 
request  of 7 August  2020, provides a bonus for  additional  work for the  personnel  of 
the  specialty  structures  of  the  National  Public  Health  Institute  and  the  county  public 
health directorates and/or the public health directorate of Bucharest which act towards 
coordinating  and  implementing  the  measures  of  prevention  and  limitation  of  events 
declared global public health emergency by the WHO  as a result of the infections with 
COVID-19. The measure provides a benefit equivalent to 75% of the basic salary, for 
the hours worked over the normal working hours, and to 100% of the basic salary, for 
the hours worked on weekends, legal holidays and other days not counted as working 
days.  This  measure  can  be  considered  a  health-related  measure,  as  referred  to  in 
Regulation (EU) 2020/672. 

(10)  For the employees of the national system of defence, penitentiaries, public health units 
and other categories established through ministerial orders, the authorities provided a 
childcare  bonus.  The  benefit  is  conditional  on  the  other  parent  not  benefitting  from 
alternative  rights  that  grant  days  off  to  parents  for  the  supervision  of  children  in  the 
event  of  temporary  closure  of  educational  units.  This  measure  can  be  considered  a 
similar  measure  to  short-time  work  schemes,  as  referred  to  in  Regulation  (EU) 
2020/672,  as  it  provides  income  support  to  employees,  which  will  help  to  cover  the 
costs  of  childcare  during  school  closures  and  therefore  help  parents  to  continue 
working, preventing putting the employment relation at risk.  

(11)  Finally,  “Law  no.  56/2020”7,  as  it  is  referred  to  in  Romania’s  request  of  7  August 
2020, introduces a bonus for particular danger conditions of up to 30% of their salary 
for medical personnel that participate in the medical actions against COVID-19. 

(12)  Romania fulfils the conditions for requesting financial assistance set out in Article 3 of 
Regulation  (EU)  2020/672.  Romania  has  provided  the  Commission  with  appropriate 
evidence that the actual and planned public expenditure has increased by EUR  4 370 

4 
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7 

Published in Official Monitor 720 of 10 August 2020 
As provided by the Law no.  6/2020  State Social Insurance budget for 2020. 
Published in Official Monitor 102 of 11 February 2020. 
Published in Official Monitor 402 of 15 May 2020. 

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779 006 as of 1 February 2020 due to the increase in the amounts directly related to 
the  technical  unemployment  benefits  for  employees  and  other  categories  than 
employees, a benefit for reinstated employees and other categories than employees, a 
forthcoming  short-time  work  scheme,  a  support  allowance  to  daily  labourers  and  a 
childcare bonus for specific personnel. This constitutes a sudden and severe increase 
because  it  relates  to  new  measures,  which  cover  a  significant  proportion  of 
undertakings  and  of  the  labour  force  in  Romania.  Romania  intends  to  finance  EUR 
271 534 419 of the increased amount of expenditure through Union funds.  

(13)  The Commission has consulted Romania and verified the sudden and severe increase 
in  the  actual  and  planned  public  expenditure  directly  related  to  short-time  work 
schemes  and  similar  measures,  as  well  as  the  recourse  to  relevant  health-related 
measures  related  to  the  COVID-19  outbreak  referred  to  in  the  request  of  7  August 
2020, in accordance with Article 6 of Regulation (EU) 2020/672. 

(14)  Financial assistance should therefore be provided with a view to helping Romania to 
address the socio-economic effects of the severe economic disturbance caused by the 
COVID-19 outbreak. 

(15)  This decision should be without prejudice to the outcome of any procedures relating to 
distortions of the operation of the internal market that may be undertaken, in particular 
under Articles 107  and  108 TFEU.  It  does not  override the  requirement  for Member 
States to notify instances of potential State aid to the Commission under Article 108 
TFEU. 

(16)  Romania should inform  the Commission on a regular basis of the implementation of 
the planned public expenditure, in order to enable the Commission to assess the extent 
to which Romania has implemented that expenditure. 

(17)  The  decision  to  provide  financial  assistance  has  been  taken  taking  into  account 
existing  and  expected  needs  of  Romania,  as  well  as  requests  for  financial  assistance 
pursuant  to  Regulation  (EU)  2020/672  already  submitted  or  planned  to be  submitted 
by other Member States, while applying the principles  of equal  treatment,  solidarity, 
proportionality and transparency, 

HAS ADOPTED THIS DECISION:  

Romania fulfils the conditions set out in Article 3 of Regulation (EU) 2020/672.   

Article 1 

Article 2 

1. 

2. 

3. 

The Union shall make available to Romania a loan amounting to a maximum of EUR 
4 099 244 587. The loan shall have a maximum average maturity of 15 years. 

The availability period for financial assistance  granted by this Decision shall be 18 
months starting from the first day after the entry into force of this Decision.  

The  Union  financial  assistance  shall  be  made  available  by  the  Commission  to 
Romania in a maximum of eight instalments. An instalment may be disbursed in one 
or several tranches. The maturities of the tranches under the first instalment may be 
longer than the maximum average maturity referred to in paragraph 1. In such cases, 
the maturities of further tranches shall be set so that the maximum average maturity 
referred to in paragraph 1 is respected once all instalments have been disbursed.  

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4. 

5. 

6. 

The  first  instalment  shall  be  released  subject  to  the  entry  into  force  of  the  loan 
agreement provided for in Article 8(2) of Regulation (EU) 2020/672.  

Romania  shall  pay  the  cost  of  funding  of  the  Union  referred  to  in  Article  4  of 
Regulation (EU) 2020/672 for each instalment plus any fees, costs and expenses of 
the Union resulting from any funding.  

The Commission shall decide on the size and release of instalments, as well as on the 
size of the tranches.  

1. Romania may finance the following measures:  

Article 3  

(1) 

(2) 

(3) 

(4) 

(5) 

(6) 

(7) 

(8) 

(9) 

the  technical  unemployment  benefit  to  employees  of  employers  that  reduce  or 
temporarily  interrupt  their  activity,  as  provided  for  by  Government  Emergency 
Ordinance 30/2020, Article 11; 

the  benefit  applied  for  persons  whose  employment  contract  was  suspended,  as 
provided for by Government Emergency Ordinance 92/2020, Article 1;  

the short-time work scheme, as provided for by Government Emergency Ordinance 
132/2020, Article 1; 

the benefit similar to that referred to in  point (a) for categories other than employees, 
including  self-employed  and  liberal  professions,  as  provided  for  by  Government 
Emergency Ordinance 30/2020, Article 15; 

the  benefit  provided  by  Law  no.  6/2020  on  State  Social  Insurance  budget  for  2020 
for other categories than employees (including self-employed and liberal professions) 
as provided for by Government Emergency Ordinance 132/2020, Article 3; 

the support allowance to daily labourers as provided for by Government Emergency 
Ordinance 132/2020, Article 4; 

the bonus in respect of additional work for the personnel of the specialty structures of 
the National Public Health Institute and the county public health directorates and/or 
the  public  health  directorate  of  Bucharest,  as  provided  for  by  Government 
Emergency Ordinance 11/2020, Art. 8(6); 

the  childcare  bonus  granted  to  the  employees  of  the  national  system  of  defence, 
penitentiaries, public health units and other categories established through ministerial 
orders, as provided for by Government Emergency Ordinance 30/2020, Art. 1(6); 

the  bonus  in  respect  of  particularly  dangerous  conditions  granted  in  recognition  of 
the merits of medical personnel, as provided for by Law no. 56/2020, Art.7. 

Romania shall inform the Commission by [DATE: 6 months after date of publication of this 
Decision],  and  every  6  months  thereafter  of  the  implementation  of  the  planned  public 
expenditure until such time as that planned public expenditure has been fully implemented 

Article 4 

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This Decision is addressed to Romania. 

Article 5 

Article 6 

This Decision shall be published in the Official Journal of the European Union.  

Done at Brussels, 

For the Council 
The President 

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