European Union leaders reached a deal on a massive stimulus plan for their coronavirus-blighted economies at a pre-dawn meeting on Tuesday after a fractious summit that went through the night and into its fifth day, EDNews.net reports citing Reuters.

Summit chairman Charles Michel tweeted "Deal" shortly after the 27 leaders reached agreement at a 5.15 a.m. (0315 GMT) plenary session.

French President Emmanuel Macron tweeted "A historic day for Europe!" after the deal was reached.

While another official present at the summit said: "Conclusions adopted!".

Officials said the deal, which came after Michel presented compromises on a 750 billion euro recovery fund, is critical to dispel doubts about the bloc's very future.

The EU was slow to coordinate its initial response to the Covid-19 pandemic and, already weakened by Britain's departure from the bloc, a united front on economic aid would demonstrate that it can step up to a crisis and stay united.

"It has been a long summit and a challenging summit but the prize is worth negotiating for," Irish Prime Minister Micheal Martin said at the end of the Brussels summit, which was just shy of being the longest EU summit in history.

European nations have done a better job of containing the coronavirus than the United States after a devastating early few months that hit Italy and Spain particularly hard, collaborating on medical, travel and economic fronts.

The European Central Bank has pumped unparalleled money into economies to keep them going, while capitals hammer out their recovery fund.

Diplomats said the leaders appeared to put aside the rancour that stood in the way of a compromise over hours of haggling through the weekend.