French President Francois Hollande called on Friday for like-minded EU countries to push ahead with further, deeper integration, even if it means leaving behind more Eurosceptic states which insist on protecting sovereignty, reports Reuters.
Speaking after a two-day summit on the debt crisis where the 17 states that share the euro agreed on arrangements for a single supervisory system for their banks, Hollande indicated that a two-speed European Union was all but inevitable.
Britain and other non-euro states such as Sweden and the Czech Republic are determined to stay out of the banking union.
Under EU rules, groups of countries can already push ahead via so-called "enhanced cooperation" on specific policies, something which until now has only been used on areas such as a planned financial transaction tax, divorce and patent law.
"There is the possibility for those who want to go further, to do more, for those that want to find new resources and means to organise themselves - so yes, I would plead that from 2014 we go further with enhanced cooperation," he told a news briefing.
Germany holds a national election in late 2013 and under the rough timetable set out by EU leaders at the summit, 2014 is the year in which the bloc pushes ahead with more ambitious measures to deepen economic and ultimately political union.
Read more of this report from Reuters.