Germany should launch a much more ambitious economic stimulus package as part of a concerted European response to the gathering economic crisis, a European Central Bank policymaker has urged.

Ewald Nowotny, Austria’s central bank governor, also called for an acceleration of eastern European aid programmes in an interview with the Financial Times, in what amounts to one of the boldest calls yet by a central banker for more aggressive action at a time when much of the continent is already in recession.