Pierre Moscovici: EU Bank Union Deal Must be Clinched by Year End

France's finance minister is hopeful that the European Union will agree to a banking union deal by the end of the year.

Pierre Moscovici said that he was optimistic that a deal would be agreed ahead of a next week's regular meeting of European finance ministers in Brussels.

"I hope that on Tuesday evening, maybe in the night of Tuesday, we'll reach a deal and if we don't succeed then we will succeed the following week when we meet on December 18," he said.

In Berlin last Friday, European finance ministers and senior EU officials met to try to forge a negotiation on rules to wind down stricken banks, in attempts to meet year-end deadline.

Moscovici claimed that the meeting had been useful as participants had made compromises to move the process forward.

"Everyone moved a little," he said.

Some EU Reformers argue closer integration is needed through such creation of a banking union to make the eurozone more stable in the long-run.

However, Germany is opposed to a banking union which would give the European Commission new powers to wind down banks.

The EU said it hopes to agree a deal on bank resolution by year-end.

A failure to meet that target could lead to significant delays in implementation because of looming European Parliament elections and changes in the makeup of the European Commission.