EU president to report in June on boosting 'economic union'

(BRUSSELS) - European Union president Herman Van Rompuy said after an EU summit Wednesday that he will present a report in June on deepening economic union as the bloc tries to overcome the eurozone debt crisis.

In a statement after the summit, Van Rompuy said the leaders held an "in-depth" discussion on the developments in the single currency area and reaffirmed their commitment to safeguarding its "financial stability and integrity".

"Our discussion also demonstrated that we need to take Economic Monetary Union to a new stage. There was general consensus that we need to strengthen the economic union to make it commensurate with the monetary union," he said.

"I will report in June, in close cooperation with the President of the Commission, the President of the Eurogroup and the President of the European Central Bank, on the main building blocks and on a working method to achieve this objective."

Van Rompuy admitted there had been divisions on the issue of eurobonds, which French President Francois Hollande put forward against resistance from German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

"Colleagues expressed various opinions on issues such as eurobonds in a time perspective, more integrated banking supervision and resolution, and a common deposit insurance scheme," Van Rompuy said.