EU leaders seal bank plan to beat crisis

BRUSSELS (AFP) - European leaders agreed on Friday to police thousands of eurozone banks beginning next year, as they sought to boost growth in their austerity-battered economies and create much-needed jobs.

By the close of a two-day summit, France and Germany had patched up differences over how to beat the debt crisis, although the new watchdog for 6,000 banks will come too late to re-float Spanish lenders via a dedicated rescue fund.

Leaders also hailed a 120-billion-euro (S$190 billion) package of measures to try and kickstart a climb out of recession as social and political unrest hits Greece and Spain.

Ideas included using proceeds from a proposed tax on financial transactions to tackle youth unemployment currently running in these two countries at more than 50 per cent.