BRUSSELS — European Union leaders gathering here Thursday for their year-end summit meeting hailed an agreement to place euro zone banks under a single supervisor, calling it a concrete measure to maintain the viability of the currency as well as a step in laying the groundwork for a broader economic union.
Pool photograph by Michael Euler
Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, and François Hollande, the French president, conferring on Thursday at a summit meeting of European leaders. "It's a good day for Europe," Mr. Hollande said.
The pact was hashed out in an all-night session of finance ministers that ended Thursday morning after France and Germany made significant compromises. Under the agreement, between 100 and 200 large banks in the euro zone will fall under the direct supervision of the European Central Bank.
A round of talks a week earlier broke up amid French-German discord over how many banks in the currency union should be covered by the new system.
In a concession to Germany, the finance ministers agreed that thousands of smaller banks would be primarily overseen by national regulators. But to satisfy the French, who wanted all euro zone banks to be held accountable, the E.C.B. would be able to take over supervision of any bank in the region at any time.
The agreement by the finance ministers, which still requires the approval of the European Parliament and some national parliaments including the German Bundestag, made it possible for E.U. leaders arriving here later Thursday to gather in a spirit unity.
“It’s a good day for Europe,” said François Hollande, the French president. “The crisis came from the banks, and mechanisms have been put in place that will mean nothing is as it was before.”
Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, said the agreement was “a big step toward more trust and confidence in the euro zone.” The summit meeting could now focus “on strengthening economic coordination” and “set out a road map for the coming months,” she added.
In another measure to shore up the euro, the finance ministers approved the release of nearly €50 billion, or $65 billion, in further aid to Greece, including long-delayed payments, support that is crucial for the government to avoid defaulting on its debts.
“Today is not only a new day for Greece, it is indeed a new day for Europe,” Antonis Samaras, the Greek prime minister, said ahead of the summit meeting.
But threatening to spoil the upbeat atmosphere were questions over the future leadership of Italy, where the economy is contracting, debt levels are rising, and Silvio Berlusconi, the former prime minister, has threatened to try to reclaim the office in an election next year.
It remained unclear Thursday whether Mr. Berlusconi would run and, if that were to happen, whether he would campaign on promises to reverse reforms put in place by Mario Monti, the current prime minister. Even so, the re-emergence of Mr. Berlusconi — who attended a summit meeting of center-right parties in Brussels on Thursday — could destabilize markets and even rekindle the financial crisis.
The bank supervision plan was first discussed in June and wrapped up in a matter of months — record time by the glacial standards of E.U. rulemaking. The agreement should serve as a springboard for leaders to weigh further steps toward economic integration during their meeting.
Such measures could include a unified system, and perhaps shared euro area resources, to ensure failing banks are closed in an orderly fashion. This could be followed, in time, by measures intended to reinforce economic and monetary union, including, possibly, the creation of a shared fund that could be used to shore up the economies of vulnerable members of the euro zone.
Mario Draghi, the president of the European Central Bank, said the agreement on banking supervision “marks an important step towards a stable economic and monetary union, and toward further European integration.” But he noted that governments and the European Commission still had to work on the details of the supervision mechanism.
The new system should be fully operational by March 2014, but ministers left the door open for the E.C.B. to push that date back if the central bank would “not be ready for exercising in full its tasks.”
A series of compromises were needed for finance ministers to reach agreement on banking supervision.
European Leaders Hail Accord on Banking Supervision
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European Leaders Hail Accord on Banking Supervision
