Brussels - Europe’s leaders need to clarify their vision for
the euro as the European Central Bank cannot fill the vacuum that a lack of
action by politicians has generated, ECB President Mario Draghi said on
Thursday.
“Can the ECB fill the vacuum of lack of action by national
governments on fiscal growth? The answer is no,” Draghi told the European
Parliament.
“Can the ECB fill the vacuum of the lack of action by
national governments on the structural problem. The answer is no.”
Any banking union in the region would need to be supervised
centrally and require the introduction of a European deposit scheme and a
resolution fund, he said.
He was speaking as head of the region’s created
super-watchdog, the European Systemic Risk Board (ESRB).
A fraught long-running debate about closer economic union in
the eurozone has been reignited by mounting concerns that Spain, weighed down
by a creaking banking system, may need an international bailout.
EU leaders will discuss a closer union in June, EU
Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said on Wednesday.
Its elements should include a banking union, joint financial
supervision and bank deposit guarantees, Barroso said.
“We intend to look at the further steps we need to take towards a full economic union, to complete our monetary union,” Barroso told a news conference.