EU finance ministers discuss new centralised body for banks

EU economic and finance ministers Tuesday began a meeting to discuss negotiations with the European Parliament on a single resolution mechanism for banks, SRM. "Today as you know the main issue is the state of play with the SRM where the Greek presidency will ask definitely a certain flexibility so that we can negotiate with the Parliament and close the open issues we have. Of course we want everybody to be on board, this is the important thing," Giannis Stournaras, Greek finance minister, told reporters ahead of the meeting. Greece currently holds the current EU Presidency. On his part, Jeroen Dijsselbloem, Dutch Finance Minister said the positions on the SRM "are still far away." "The (European) Parliament remains very critic as you know. In December we reached a political compromise and there is still room for some changes, so we shall see," he told reporters. The SRM is one of the key elements of Europe's banking union. It will be a single, centralised authority with a budget of 55 billion euro which would have the power to decide on and fund the resolution of banks in difficulty in the euro zone. The ministers are also expected to endorse a common EU position in preparation for the meeting of G20 finance ministers and central bank governors, which will be held in Sydney, Australia, on 22-23 February.