MILAN - The European Union sees no immediate need to prolong its SURE unemployment scheme beyond the COVID-19 crisis but is looking into similar instruments to help the jobs market in the post-emergency phase, its jobs commissioner told an Italian daily.

Asked whether the programme could be extended, Nicolas Schmit told Corriere della Sera in an interview published on Thursday that SURE was a "crisis instrument".

"Now we are in a recovery process and I see no immediate need to prolong this crisis instrument," he told the paper. "With (Economics) Commissioner Paolo Gentiloni we are studying the possibility of an instrument similar to SURE."

(Reporting by Agnieszka Flak, editing by Francesca Piscioneri) ((agnieszka.flak@thomsonreuters.com; +39 02 6612 9450; Reuters Messaging: agnieszka.flak.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))