Europe in battle to overcome economic lag vs US, Asia

"If we manage to use this big pot of money to get some countries to do the necessary adjustments and reforms and investment they need to tap long-term potential, then this recovery fund would have served a very good purpose," said Christian Odendahl of the Centre for European Reform think tank.

"But if the implementation of that recovery fund is weak - and there is a risk that it might be, because spending that much money quickly and well is difficult - then we may have squandered that opportunity."