The dispersion of total assets of euro area bank branches and subsidiaries across euro area countries illustrates the point [see slide 7]. The horizontal line within the pillars shows the median share of assets for both types of establishments.
The European Commission and the Member States in the Council took decisive measures to support national governments, firms and workers, helping to cushion the immediate impact of the crisis (especially through three safety nets, namely the European Stability Mechanism Pandemic Crisis Support instrument, the European Investment Bank pan-European Guarantee Fund and the European instrument for temporary Support to mitigate Unemployment Risks in an Emergency (SURE), which together amount to up to € billion in loans.