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Sam Lowe a trade policy expert at the Centre for European Reform, a broadly pro-EU think tank, also suggests a veterinary agreement.He acknowledges it would restrict the UK's ability to accept American food standards as part of a future UK-US trade deal, but says it "would significantly reduce trade friction both within the UK, and with the EU, to the benefit of UK farmers."

“What was clear before the pandemic has become even more obvious now: the fiscal rules in Europe need a substantial overhaul,” said Christian Odendahl, chief economist of the Centre for European Reform.

European Union member states have been ordered to "let go of parts of their sovereignty" for the sake of Ursula von der Leyen's control of the bloc. Sigrid Kaag, the Netherlands' Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Co-operation, told the Centre for European Reform that it was time for member states to renounce control. This comes amid growing infighting inside the EU since Brussels has endured brutal humiliation over vaccine rollout and Russia.

Christian Odendahl and Yiannis Mouzakis argue that Greece could use the money to fix issues in its economy that have plagued the country since its debt crisis.

Chief economist at the Centre for European Reform Christian Odendahl recently wrote on Twitter, attaching a picture of a survey by Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung: "Approval rating of Merkel‘s government is in free fall, on the back of the vaccine disaster and mishandling of the second wave."

"If we manage to use this big pot of money to get some countries to do the necessary adjustments and reforms and investment they need to tap long-term potential, then this recovery fund would have served a very good purpose," said Christian Odendahl of the Centre for European Reform think tank.

“When Britain was in the European nucleus, it could counterbalance the French and German view that Russia could be dealt exclusively by trade and diplomacy,” said Ian Bond, director of foreign policy at the Centre for European Reform and a former British diplomat. “When Britain left the EU, the center of gravity shifted to a softer line toward Russia.”

But Christian Odendahl, of the Centre for European Reform in Berlin, thinks Mr Braun has done Mr Laschet and Europe a favour, “to break the taboo, for after the election”. And the chancellor was probably behind it. “This was Merkel holding the pen.”