EU leaders are gathering for their 6^th summit, the final one in a difficult year, to seek consensus for a true monetary union. Prior to the summit, on Thursday in Brussels, EU finance ministers agreed on a banking supervision deal, a key step towards establishing a banking union. President of the European Council Herman Van Rompuy said in his opening address that the agreement is a breakthrough to reinforce Europe's Economic and Monetary Union.

EU leaders are gathering for their year-end summit (Photo: euronews.com)