EU's Gentiloni calls for more solidarity between European countries

LUXEMBOURG (Reuters) - European Union countries are entitled to come up with measures on a national level to shore up their economies but more solidarity is needed to avoid "fragmentation", European Economic Commissioner Paolo Gentiloni said on Tuesday.

"We are not blaming countries, we are not discussing the fact that single countries and member states, inevitably, are supporting their economies," he said on his arrival at a meeting in Luxembourg of EU Finance ministers.

""But if we want to avoid fragmentation, if we want to face this crisis, I think we need a higher level of solidarity and we need to put in place (...) common tools," Gentiloni added.

Germany has drawn criticism from some EU capitals and institutions in the past days for unilaterally announcing a 200 billion euro support package for its companies and households struggling with a huge surge in energy prices.

(Reporting by Benoit Van Overstraeten; Editing by Bart Meijer)