I have done extensive research on the creation, implementation, and implications of the "Next Generation EU" recovery instrument. Next Generation is the EU's most important fiscal response to the economic and social damages caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.
"Economic ideas, party politics, or material interests?" (JEPP 2023) assesses the motifs of the German government for promoting Next Generation EU. Other than alternative explanations might have it, I find that material concerns about the country's economic model and export industry, rather than new economic ideas or specific domestic actors, led the German government to endorse the notion of common debt issuance and large-scale redistribution at the EU level.
Here's the abstract of the article:
"Why did the German government champion a debt-financed and grants-based EU corona recovery plan, despite the country’s traditional aversion towards greater fiscal risk-sharing in Europe? To elucidate this question, this article critically assesses different explanatory factors cited in the academic literature and public debate to determine a country’s response to pressing challenges. Tracing Germany’s approach to the corona pandemic within the EU context, it finds that national material interests rather than (new) economic ideas or party politics were decisive. The timing, scope, as well as the limits of the German-inspired recovery plan for the fight against the corona crisis suggests at least as much continuity as change in Germany’s position on EU fiscal policy. Yet, the findings also highlight Germany’s enduring, and in fact reinforced, commitment to European integration and its preparedness to provide stability in moments of deep crisis for the EU."