European Union finance ministers failed to secure an agreement on how best to downsize or close banks without calling on taxpayers to bail out ailing lenders, a top official said early Saturday, June 22, according to The Associated Press.
Despite intense negotiations until the wee hours, ministers remained at odds over key points and will reconvene for an extraordinary session Wednesday, French Finance Minister Pierre Moscovici said.
He voiced confidence that ministers will be able to broker a deal then, but his Irish counterpart Michael Noonan cautioned that there were still "real issues" to be resolved.
"There is no guarantee there will be a solution on Wednesday," he stressed.
An agreement on the rules would have been an important step to stabilizing Europe's financial system and establish a so-called banking union, which aims to give the supervision and rescue of banks to European institutions rather than leaving weaker member states to fend for themselves. It is a key part of the EU plans to restore financial and economic stability to the region.
Moscovici said "90 percent of the work" was done, although France and others were still pushing for greater flexibility. Noonan noted that there were still major disagreements between the members of the 17-nation eurozone and the EU's ten other members like Britain that are not part of the currency union.
The ministers had vowed to resolve the issue by the end of June.
