The German Chancellor today backed proposals to create a combined Eurozone “economics and finance minister” and a European Monetary Fund.
The proposed fund would replace the European Stability Mechanism (ESM), a rescue facility set up in 2012 to help defuse the eurozone crisis.
French president Emmanuel Macron and Germany‘s Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble had previously urged Mrs Merkel to support the idea.
Mrs Merkel, 63, hopes the plans will protect the currency union against future crises.
She said: “I think the suggestion from Wolfgang Schaeuble to turn the ESM into a European Monetary Fund is a very good idea.
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“We would be able to show the world that we have all the mechanisms in our eurozone portfolio to be able to react to unexpected situations.”
The Chancellor said the proposed economics and finance minister would provide “greater coherence” in economic policy across the eurozone.
She told a press conference in Berlin: “They don’t have to be the same, but they must be similar.”
And she backed the idea of a “euro-budget” which would provide funds to countries undergoing painful economic reforms.
Mrs Merkel went on to dismiss fears about the state of the eurozone, saying it has “positive data” after years of economic crisis.
She said: “All Eurozone member states are showing economic growth, including Greece.”
“I think that we’re in a much better position today than we were a year ago, when I was a lot more worried and I wish Greece every success.
“I know that it is very, very difficult for many people but I think that Greece will also benefit from more jobs and then gradually from more prosperity.”
The Chancellor, who is standing for a record fourth term in next month’s election, went on to defended Germany’s sky-high trade surplus.
She told reporters: “If the euro exchange rate is very low then it is easier for German exporters to place their products on the global market.
“Every change in the euro exchange rate has an impact on our ability to export and of course puts new pressure on our competitiveness.
“I personally don’t see the trade surplus per se as so dramatic. If the trade surplus goes down now, it is part of things that we don’t have any influence on at all.”