European Union deal creating a 750-billion-euro ($870 billion) fund to help the bloc's weaker economies recover from the coronavirus pandemic "could have been better", European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde said on Wednesday.The accord, struck on Tuesday after fraught negotiations, will see the European Commission disburse 390 billion in grants and 360 billion in cheap loans to member countries based on criteria including their unemployment rate in recent years and, later, the economic damage wrought by the pandemic.But Lagarde stood out as a rare critic, saying she would have preferred a greater proportion of grants over loans, in line with the Commission's original proposal that was changed to convince fiscally frugal countries.