France and Germany want to achieve a common position on the reform of the eurozone, including the convergence of taxes, capital markets and the banking union, between March and June this year, French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said on Thursday.
Speaking after talks with his German counterpart in Paris, Le Maire said that the joint Franco-German position would encourage other members of the eurozone to join this initiative.
“We have … an urgent priority, which is to complete the creation of the banking union, the completion of the unification of capital markets and the convergence of taxes with Germany,” Le Mear said at a press conference with his German counterpart Peter Altmayer.
“On these three issues, our goal is to achieve a final joint position in the period from March to June,” he added.
So far, Germany has raised concerns about how risks will be shared between the eurozone countries if further progress is made in the banking union.
While the euro area has already established a single banking regulator (ECB), the bloc struggled to solve the problems arising when trying to agree on a mechanism for resolving the situation with troubled banks and a joint deposit insurance system.
“To complete this element, we must reduce risks with the help of a roadmap to avoid future crises in the banking sector,” Altmayer said.
Le Mair said that France is prepared to solve the problems of Germany – and in particular, associated with “bad” loans, which is particularly sensitive for Italy because of the large number of loan loans in the balances of some Italian banks.
“This is a concrete example of France’s will to overcome certain technical problems that lasted for several months or years, and the achievement of consensus and agreement,” Le Mear said.
Both ministers will discuss integration in the euro area with their Italian and Spanish counterparts over dinner on Monday in Brussels, Le Mare said.
