The EU reforms his government is seeking would need unanimous support from member states — something it will struggle to get in the current climate.

But the new approach from Berlin will be welcome by France’s Emmanuel Macron, who has long pressed for such reforms and done little to hide his frustration at Angela Merkel’s reluctance to embrace them. 

The first woman to serve as German foreign minister, Ms Baerbock is a noted Europhile who was Green candidate for chancellor in September’s German elections,

During the campaign, she said that if she won her first foreign trip as chancellor would be to Brussels.

The Greens have long been the most pro-EU party in German politics and will now take control of Europe policy.

But their federalist approach appears to have the full backing of Mr Scholz’s centre-Left Social Democrats (SPD) and the pro-business Free Democrats (FDP).

“Germany needs to send a signal in which direction the German government would like the European Union to develop,” Udo Bullmann, the SPD’s Europe negotiator in the coalition talks, told Spiegel magazine.

“We are not despondent, we don’t look back and we don’t have the Brexit shock in our bones. We want to take courageous steps towards integration because we know that time is short and people are waiting for them.”

Mr Scholz has previously described the EU’s coronavirus recovery fund as the bloc’s “Hamilton moment” — a reference to Alexander Hamilton, the American founding father who set up the US’ central bank and a federal treasury to take on the states’ debts.

But the coalition deal stops short of embracing further shared EU debt — something which has long been a taboo in German politics and a stumbling block to further integration.

The FDP in particular is wary of signing up to anything it sees as German taxpayers signing up to more profligate member states’ debts.

Christian Lindner, the FDP leader, has been named as finance minister in the new government and is likely to veto any such moves.