Merkel: EU should be more independent of IMF

German Chancellor Angela Merkel laid out her ideas for more European integration, including the creation of a joint refugee agency that would determine asylum requests on the continent's borders.

In a changing global order, Europe "must be able to act, internally and externally, to be taken seriously by the world," Merkel said in a wide-ranging interview with the Frankfurter Allegemeine newspaper published Sunday.

Merkel said that she supports creating a European Monetary Fund — similar to the International Monetary Fund — that could help stabilize the eurozone by offering long- or short-term loans to member nations.

"We aim to make ourselves a little more independent of the International Monetary Fund," she said.

She also backed the idea of an investment fund, "in the low double-digit billions" of euros, to help EU members close development gaps.

The chancellor called for the establishment of a European refugee agency that would handle requests for asylum, based on unified asylum law, on Europe's borders, ABC news reported.

Her comments were portrayed by the newspaper as a long-awaited response to French President Emmanuel Macron's ambitious plans for Europe.