Merkel confident about EU reforms, optimistic on banking union

BERLIN: German Chancellor Angela Merkel is confident that the European Union will achieve good results on a wide spectrum of reforms, she said before talks with French President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday, expressing optimism about completing a banking union.

"On euro zone reform, we agree that the euro zone is not yet sufficiently crisis-proof," said Merkel, adding one area where she was optimistic was on creating a banking union.

Merkel reiterated her position on euro zone reform, that solidarity and individual states' liability for their own risks must be linked.