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There is still no clear definition of what a single, central budget would entail, but Germany strongly supports the idea as a way of coordinating transfers among Member States, and France is also in favour, which in terms of eurozone decision-making means it has substantial momentum.
The single budget proposal was first sketched out by Herman Van Rompuy, the president of the European Council, in a paper circulated in September to stimulate debate about how Europe's monetary union should be strengthened.
In the paper, he said a "fully fledged fiscal union" among the 17 countries that share the euro could involve the creation of a single treasury office and "a central budget whose role and functions would need to be defined".