LUXEMBOURG (MNI) – Finland could be prepared to accept some
mutualisation of deposit guarantees in Europe if governments first agree
to submit their largest banks to common EU supervision, Finland’s EU
minister Alexander Stubb, said on Tuesday.
“Banking union needs three things, but the order is important,”
Stubb said ahead of a meeting of EU foreign ministers tasked with
preparing for the EU leaders’ summit later this week.
A European Banking Union requires common supervision of at least
the biggest banks before a common resolution fund could be envisaged,
Stubb said. “Only then can we look at deposit guarantees,” he added.
Ideally all the EU’s 27 members should be involved in a banking
union, but if that is not possible at least the 17 countries using the
euro should take part, the Finnish minister said.
European finance ministers “need to wake up and smell the coffee”
and accept that they “cannot have a monetary union without further
economic cooperation,” Stubb asserted.
The roadmap for deepening economic and fiscal integration in
Europe, prepared by the presidents of the EU Council, European
Commission, Eurogroup, and European Central Bank and submitted to EU
member states early this morning, is “a good basis for further
discussion” and good “food for thought,” he said.
Stubb said that the plan, which EU ministers will discuss over
lunch, called for deeper financial, fiscal and political integration as
well as tighter economic governance.
Earlier today, Germany’s Minister of State Michael Link said the
blueprint focused too much on mutualizing debt and not enough on tighter
common fiscal rules, which the German government views as a
pre-requisite to any joint bond issuance.
–Brussels newsroom: +324-9522-8374; pkoh@marketnews.com
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