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Entering a summit of EU leaders, that is to set the direction
for talks on deeper euro zone integration over the next six
months, Grybauskaite said:
"Negotiations will go ahead, especially if the circumstances of
our economic development will be different. Today is quite a
peaceful time so I think we will not be under pressure to be
very, very fast."
Among the ideas for deeper integration, which would help protect
the economies of the 19 countries now sharing the euro, are a
euro zone budget, a euro zone finance minister and parliament,
transforming the euro zone bailout fund into a European Monetary
Fund and a sovereign insolvency mechanism.
Grybauskaite said progress would be possible once more details
were available.
"After we have clarification on the substance, the finance
ministers' position, functions (...) and how much we will be
able to manage without changing European treaties. That is what
will matter," she said.
There is broad agreement among euro zone leaders that they need
to strengthen the banking sector by gradually introducing a
European-wide deposit guarantee scheme and backstopping a bank
resolution fund. There is also support for turning the bailout
fund into a European Monetary Fund.
But on other ideas French President Emmanuel Macron, German
Chancellor Angela Merkel and European Commission President
Jean-Claude Juncker have differing views. EU finance ministers
will get until June 2018 to come up with compromises.
(Reporting By Jan Strupczewski and Robert-Jan Bartunek, Editing
by William Maclean)
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