ECB's Draghi 'welcomes' France-Germany eurozone reform plan

FRANKFURT AM MAIN: European Central Bank President Mario Draghi said Wednesday that a plan for reform of the 19-nation eurozone agreed by Paris and Berlin this week was a move in the right direction.

"The recent document produced by France and Germany is to be welcomed, it's an encouraging step in this direction and it's an important step," Draghi told a central banking conference in Portugal.

Although "vague", "it's the first time we are having a proposal by governments," he added, saying that means "now finally we have something we can work on".

Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany and French President Emmanuel Macron met outside Berlin Tuesday, agreeing a slate of reform ideas for the single currency bloc including Paris' long-sought-after joint budget.

Although details including the size, sources of funding and management of the budget are vague, Macron said a shared pot of cash would allow the eurozone to "respond to the...divergences between our economies."

Draghi argued Wednesday that "the important thing... is that not necessarily a specific instrument is being designed, presented and defined, but it's an approach, it's a sense that in the future we have to work to deepen the monetary union."

ECB chiefs have long called for politicians to do their part in shoring up the eurozone against economic shocks.

Action by governments would take some of the pressure off the Frankfurt institution, widely credited with saving the single currency with massive interventions in the wake of the financial crisis.