The pandemic has revealed how fragile the European project still is, DW reported referring to German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

"The pandemic has revealed how fragile the European project still is," said the chancellor.

"Europe has shown itself to be vulnerable. Cohesion and solidarity have never been as important as they are today. "

According to her, authoritarians have been using the crisis to their advantage.

"They want to undermine the rule of law. They want to harm people's dignity. They want to undermine people's human rights and civil rights."

In the speech to the Bundestag, Merkel said she hoped for a final agreement on the recovery plan by the end of July. "It would be best if we could reach an agreement before the summer break," she added.