BRUSSELS—Euro-zone finance ministers expressed optimism on Monday that they could strike a deal with European lawmakers on a single authority to wind down failing banks before European elections in May.
But negotiations over the shape of a planned single resolution mechanism looked set to be complicated by continued disagreements over how to finance the system, and a Finnish vote that limits that country's room for maneuver in the talks.
"I'm optimistic we'll get a deal in the coming days," Jeroen Dijsselbloem, President of the Eurogroup of euro zone finance ministers, said on his way into two days of meetings in Brussels.
European Union governments are rushing to complete a law on the single resolution mechanism before the European Parliament dissolves for elections in May. The resolution mechanism is the final leg in the bloc's ambitious banking union project, which aims to draw a line under its recent debt crisis.
EU finance ministers have agreed among themselves on the shape of the resolution mechanism, but the deal must still be ratified by European lawmakers, who have agreed on a different version of the proposal and are threatening to block a deal unless their concerns are met. The euro zone finance ministers' meeting precedes Tuesday's meeting of ministers from all 28 EU nations and a negotiating session among government representatives, the Parliament and the European Commission due Wednesday.
A compromise must be agreed by March 26 if it is to be voted on at the Parliament's last full meeting in April.
An expanded version of this report appears on WSJ.com.
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