The IMF's intervention is timed to tip the balance against Angela Merkel at a critical summit between Germany, France, Italy and Spain in Rome today where the embattled German Chancellor will be fighting off identical demands.

Christine Lagarde, the IMF's managing director, last night unveiled the blueprint to save the euro while warning that the EU's single currency was under "acute stress" that threatened "the viability of the monetary union itself".

"We are clearly seeing additional tension and acute stress applying to both banks and sovereigns in the euro area," she said.

"With that in mind, the IMF believes that a determined and forceful move towards complete European monetary union should be reaffirmed in order to restore faith in the system, because we see at the moment the viability of the European monetary system is questioned."

Germany is opposed to almost every single element of the IMF measures, including "common debt", a European deposit guarantee scheme, a single banking resolution fund, sovereign bond purchases by the European Central Bank and direct aid by euro bail-out funds to struggling financial institutions.