Portugal Colonial - Top EU economies vow to speed up financial integration

The European Union has been trying for years to bring together its fragmented capital markets, in a bid to provide better investments for EU citizens and unlock more capital for the region's businesses.

The idea languished for years amid bickering between member states, but has been given added impetus as Chinese industry races ahead and ties with the United States sour under President Donald Trump.

German Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil, speaking ahead of talks with five of his EU counterparts in Berlin, said there are "times when we need more Europe -- and right now is such a time".

The talks would focus on how "how we can deepen capital markets in Europe, how we can dismantle barriers to cross-border trade, make it easier for investors to invest in Europe, make it easier for European companies to raise capital," he said.

Germany, Europe's biggest economy, "must be prepared to make compromises," he said. "For this, we must look beyond our national horizons if we want a strong Europe."

French Finance Minister Roland Lescure added that greater efforts were needed "to make sure that European capital stops flying everywhere else, and stays in Europe to finance European solutions for the global problems we face".

"We are doing this for our citizens; we want Europeans to be proud of investing in European companies," he said.

Klingbeil and Lescure were joined by the finance ministers of Italy, the Netherlands, Poland and Spain -- a group of countries known as the "E6".

The EU's latest plan to bring together markets is called the Savings and Investments Union, which builds on an earlier project.

But it has been dogged by disagreements, particularly over whether to centralise market supervision.

While the E6 countries back this idea others, such as Ireland and Luxembourg, have expressed reservations.

Some have, however, raised the prospect of several EU states moving forward first, ahead of the rest of the 27-nation bloc.

S.Caetano--PC