The money is proposed under the European instrument for temporary support to mitigate the risks of unemployment in an emergency (SURE) and is intended to fund expenditure incurred in continuing measures introduced to mitigate the impact of the covid-19 pandemic, according to a statement.

Once the proposal has been approved by the Council, the financial support will be provided in the form of soft loans.

The loan to Portugal will mainly help finance expenditure incurred until May 2022, related to the continuation of labour market and health-related measures.

In addition to the €300 million for Portugal, the EU executive also proposed additional funds for Greece (EUR 900 million, for a total of EUR 6.2 billion) and Cyprus (EUR 26 million, for a total of EUR 632 million).