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Schaeuble to discuss banking union with France, EU: source

05 December 2013, 19:49 CET
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(BERLIN) - German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble will meet his French counterpart Pierre Moscovici and Eurogroup finance chief Jeroen Dijsselbloem Friday for talks on a planned European banking union, a source close to the talks said.

The meeting in Berlin will also include EU Commissioner Michel Barnier, the source told AFP, confirming a report in Handelsblatt business daily which said ECB board member Joerg Asmussen would also attend.

The meeting will focus on plans for a banking resolution mechanism, the paper said.

A German finance ministry spokesman declined to comment, saying only that a "multitude" of discussions were taking place currently on the subject.

EU finance ministers have been trying to narrow differences on the proposed banking union, a new framework meant to prevent a repetition of the financial meltdown that plunged Europe into crisis.

Although they approved a first step in the plan -- the Single Supervisory Mechanism (SSM) to oversee eurozone banks -- in October, the ministers are under pressure to agree a Single Resolution Mechanism (SRM) by year's end.

The SRM would serve to close failing banks and would also need to be complemented by a deposit guarantee regime to protect savers.

Germany has expressed reservations about centralising resolution in the eurozone, but Schaeuble said last month in Brussels that the issues needing agreement would be resolved by Christmas.

To put the banking union scheme in place by 2015 as planned, Asmussen has said there must be a decision on SRM by year's end because it will still need to be approved by the European Parliament, whose mandate ends in April.


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