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EU leaders push for banking union at Rome meeting

LONDON (MarketWatch) -- The leaders of the euro zone's four biggest economies reiterated earlier calls for firmer political collaboration and the creation of a regionwide banking union, as they met for a presummit meeting in Rome on Friday. The four leaders, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Francois Hollande, Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy and Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti, all agreed that the euro area needs to work together to control public deficits, sustain growth and employment and to move closer to a fiscal union. Rajoy said that the "euro is irreversible." The four leaders agreed "to put all the mechanisms into motion to achieve financial stability" and to work toward better economic and financial integration. Germany's Merkel said that the ideas crafted at the meeting in Rome will be presented for the rest of the member states at the EU Summit on June 28 and 29 next week.