The French president says a deal to start building a banking union on 1 January will enable the eurozone to speed up economic integration.
"Thanks to this we can advance more quickly and with more assurance," Francois Hollande said in Brussels.
He was speaking after EU leaders agreed to set up a single banking supervisor for the 17-nation eurozone - a key step towards a banking union.
But Mr Hollande also said EU states "need different speeds" of integration.
"We should have a council of the eurozone to meet on a regular basis... We need different speeds - that's agreed by everyone now, and there are even some moving backwards," he told a news conference.
Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel insisted again that "quality takes precedence over speed" in setting up the banking union.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-20005100?print=true
