Senior German politicians called for improvements to the European Union's processes to speed up decision making and boost its appeal among citizens, just a week after Britons stunned the world with a vote to leave the bloc.
Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble urged member states to be more pragmatic and take an "intergovernmental approach" to solving problems, complaining that EU politicians had taken too long to make decisions on the migrant crisis last year and Brussels operated with timeframes that were too big.
"You soon realize if the Commission isn't managing something or if we're getting bogged down in the (European) Council. And that's when governments have a responsibility," Schaeuble said in an interview with Welt am Sonntag newspaper.
However, he said reforming European institutions or changing European treaties would take too long and denied that he was calling for the Commission's power to be reduced.
In a referendum held on June 23, Britain voted 52 to 48 percent in favor of quitting the EU - a decision that caused major losses in global financial markets and raised concerns about the EU's future prospects.
German Economy Minister Sigmar Gabriel called for the ranks of EU Commissioners to be streamlined and for Brussels to reconsider how it allocates its budget.
"A Europe in which 27 Commissioners want to prove themselves doesn't make sense. It would be good to downsize in this respect," he told the newspaper Neue Osnabruecker Zeitung in an interview published on Saturday.
Speaking on German broadcaster ZDF on Sunday, Gabriel said: "What we have now, with 27, 28 Commissioners in the European Commission is like an administrative apparatus without any real connection to voters."
Gabriel, who is also Germany's vice chancellor, said the EU should reassess if it should still put around 40 percent of funds toward agriculture while much less money is pumped into research, innovation or education.
And European Parliament President Martin Schulz, a German, wrote in a piece for Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung's Monday edition that the Commission should be turned into "a real European government" subject to parliamentary control from the European Parliament and a second chamber made up of representatives of member states.
Schaeuble said on German public broadcaster ARD on Sunday that in view of the Brexit vote and rising euroscepticism in other countries, the EU needed to better explain its role to people and deliver visible results more quickly.
"Of course we'll hold on to national ties - no one wants to get rid of them - but there are some things that only Europe can solve better together ... but we need to prove that."
He also said that EU members should start cooperating on joint defense projects, even if only a few countries worked together on this to start with.
