Germany says EU economy 'enormously' strengthened

German Economy Minister Peter Altmaier said on Tuesday that the agreement reached by European Union leaders to support their virus-stricken economies will strengthen the European internal market "enormously".

EU leaders finally clinched a deal on an unprecedented 1.8 trillion-euro ($2.1 trillion) budget and coronavirus recovery fund early on Tuesday.

The 27 leaders grudgingly committed to a costly, massive aid package for those hit hardest by COVID-19, which has already killed 135,000 people within the bloc alone.

The agreement will help many people get through the crisis, Altmaier said.

The minister expects a cautious upswing to begin in Germany starting from late October.

To confront the biggest recession in its history, the EU will establish a 750 billion-euro coronavirus fund, partly based on common borrowing, to be sent as loans and grants to the hardest-hit countries.

That comes on top of the seven-year, 1 trillion-euro EU budget that leaders had been haggling over for months even before the pandemic.