An EU Banking Union Is Essential, Merkel Adviser Says

It’s imperative that a banking union is created to reduce risks in Europe, Isabel Schnabel, a member of German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s independent council of economic advisers, told Welt am Sonntag.

A demonstrator waves a European Union (EU) flag as he protests outside the Houses of Parliament in central London on September 10, 2018. - Britain's former foreign secretary Boris Johnson launched another broadside against Prime Minister Theresa May on Monday amid rumours that he is preparing a leadership bid as Brexit tensions divide their party. Rumours about the former foreign minister's marital infidelities also swirled, with his allies accusing government officials of leaking information to undermine Johnson's chances. (Photo by Daniel LEAL-OLIVAS / AFP) (Photo credit should read DANIEL LEAL-OLIVAS/AFP/Getty Images)Photographer: DANIEL LEAL-OLIVAS/AFP

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By Richard Weiss

November 24, 2018 at 11:00 PM UTC

This article is for subscribers only.

“For the stability of the European monetary union, the banking union is essential,” Schnabel told the newspaper. “We have seen in the euro crisis that a crisis in a member state can get meaningfully worse if banks are too closely tied to the country they sit in, so it is of enormous importance to loosen that close risk composite between banks and states with the banking union.”