[PHOTOS] Hollande, Monti push eurozone leaders to 'commit' to banking union by next January

French President Francois Hollande and Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti are pressing countries including Germany and Finland to drop resistance to the European Union's plan to implement common banking supervision on January 1.     

Hollande and Monti were joined by the prime ministers of Spain, Portugal and Malta yesterday in calling for progress at the European Council's meeting to be held in Brussels in two weeks time.  

"The next European Council must pave the way towards theestablishment of a single European banking supervision system, to be decided before the end of the year and operational byJanuary 2013," the five leaders said in a joint statement after the meeting held at Verdala Palace on the margins of the 5 5 meeting. 

European Commission President Jose Manuel Durrao Barroso also participated in the meeting.   

Hollande and Monti are rebuffing calls by finace ministers, including German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble, to slow down the process of passing bank supervision from national authorities to the European Central Bank.

EU leaders called forthe single supervisor in June as a condition for allowing banksin the 17-nation euro area direct access to the €500 billion permanent bailout fund, the European StabilityMechanism.   

"We are particularly in agreement," Monti told journalists last night, in reference to the banking union timeline. Monti left Malta and returned to Rome after the meeting.

Gonzi meeting with Libyan president postponed

This morning's planned meeting between Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi and Mohamed Magarief, the President of the General National Congress of Libya has been postponed.

Magarief had already departed from his hotel in Floriana and on his way to Castille when he was informed that the meeting had to be postponed.

The meeting is now expected to be held later on during the day.