EU Banking Union Deal Possible This Year, Germany’s Scholz Says

(Bloomberg) -- Progress toward a European Union banking union is gaining momentum, and a deal in principle could be possible by December, German Finance Minister Olaf Scholz said.

“The time of the new presidency and the new commission of the European Union is the time to get all the necessary agreements and to start with the work on that question,” Scholz said at a Bloomberg News event in Berlin. “We will get the last agreements obviously in December, I hope so.”

Last week, Scholz signaled that Berlin is ready to consider a form of joint European deposit insurance, disagreement over which had been an impasse to deeper banking integration.

Germany Seeks to Break Bank Union Deadlock With Concessions

His proposal on banking union, Scholz said on Thursday, was feasible for banks in Italy, which had expressed most concern over the idea.

“Some of the big banks of Italy are on a very good path” to reducing risk, the German finance minister said.

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