article: Their agreement to give the European Central Bank the power to supervise the eurozone's bigger banks sounds horribly technical and dull. But it matters, in helping the eurozone to move a little further away from the cliff edge, while perhaps mapping a future for the UK in an EU increasingly dominated by currency union members acting as a unified bloc. The deal may represent the most significant new transfer of national powers to a eurozone institution since the crisis erupted in the currency union three years ago - and, for many, it represents the first step towards the kind of centralisation of decision-making that's necessary for the eurozone to survive. And it includes a possible blueprint for how the UK might avoid becoming too marginalised as a member of the European Union, should the eurozone evolve into a United States of Europe within a wider, looser EU structure. So it provides a possible answer to those who believe that one consequence of the eurozone doing what it needs to avoid fracture - to integrate politically in a deep sense - is that the UK will be propelled remorselessly towards the EU's exit. Here is the niggly detail. The ECB will take responsibility for supervising bigger banks, those with assets (loans and investments) of â‚¬30bn or whose assets represent more than a fifth of a nation's economic output. That is about 200 banks initially. Significantly, loads of French banks will be supervised by the ECB, but few German banks (because its banking industry is more fragmented). That looks like a victory for Mrs Merkel, except that the ECB will have the power to intervene at smaller banks if it sees problems - so Mr Hollande's dignity is preserved. Those EU countries like the UK not in the eurozone can opt to join this so-called banking union. They can opt to have their banks supervised by the ECB. The UK won't cede its national banking supervision powers to the ECB, but other eurozone "outs" might (although Sweden and the Czech Republic seem, like the UK, to have decided to stick with their national supervisors, for the time being at least). As for the Chancellor, George Osborne, he had conflicting instincts in the negotiations. On the one hand, he didn't want to block banking union for the rest - because he believes it is in Britain's interest to help bring calm and stability to the eurozone. On the other hand, he has the commercial interests of the UK's banks and businesses to protect, and he fears that a more closely-knit eurozone would seek to rig the single market to the detriment of Britain. He achieved two forms of protections for British commerce. On the one hand, the European Central Bank has agreed that it will not discriminate against any EU member state in the way that it uses its supervisory powers. The fear was that in setting liquidity or capital rules for the banks under its umbrella, it could somehow tilt the competitive playing field away from London. As for the outfit that makes regulations
summary: At about 04:45 Brussels time this morning, European Union finance ministers made a bit of EU history.