James Saft  No banking union without fiscal union: James Saft
May 31, 2012  By James Saft  (Reuters) – A banking union, as
espoused by the European Commission, is probably totally
unworkable unless accompanied by a full fiscal union.  Which is
to say a euro zone which features banking union is no different
than the current state of affairs, the solution to which, short
of a break-up, also almost certainly requires much greater
centralization of taxing and spending.  The Commission, the
European Union’s executive arm, on Wednesday floated the idea of
a banking supervision union to run alongside the 17-nation
currency zone.  “A closer integration among the euro area
countries in supervisory structures and practices, in cross-
border crisis management and burden sharing, towards a ‘banking
union’, would be an important complement to the current
structure,” the Commission said.  This could include a single
deposit guarantee fund and allow greater flexibility to the
European Stability Mechanism, a sort of permanen