The proposal acknowledges the scope and the size of the economic challenge that Europe faces, and rightly puts the emphasis on a solution with the European budget at its core, Commission head Ursula von der Leyen said. This goes in the direction of a proposal the Commission is working on which will take into account the views of all member states and the European Parliament, she said.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said the fund should be paid back eventually and Germany will put up roughly 27% of the funds, as it does for the regular EU budget.