FRANKFURT — Under growing international and financial market pressure to fix the region’s bank problems, European officials took a step on Tuesday toward surrendering a cherished national prerogative by proposing to knit banking systems together more closely.
If endorsed by European leaders, the plan by the European Commission could spread the cost of bank rescues and demonstrate that governments are willing to cede power to the strong, centralized institutions that many economists say are needed to stabilize the currency union.
Pressure for bold action by the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, and other euro zone leaders escalated Tuesday after a conference call of finance ministers and central bankers from the Group of 7 nations, which include Germany, Japan and the United States.
While participants said little about the conversation afterward, it is likely that European leaders were urged to move more forcefully to quell a banking crisis in Spain and to keep Greece from leaving the euro zone.
“There’s no question that markets remain skeptical that the measures taken thus far are sufficient to secure the recovery in Europe and remove the risk that the crisis will deepen,” Jay Carney, the White House press secretary, said on Monday.
The European Commission’s proposal for banks aims to avoid future situations like the one in Spain, where the ills of one institution, Bankia, threaten to destroy what little credibility the government has left with financial markets.
But the plan will not do much to help the banks in Spain and Portugal that require immediate assistance. The proposals would require formal approval from European governments and the European Parliament, and one of the most important measures would not be expected to go into force until 2018.
In that sense, the move is yet another example of the bloc’s inability to keep up with the fast-moving pressures created by the crisis that began in Greece and is now threatening Spain.
Doubts about Spain deepened Tuesday after the treasury minister, Cristóbal Montoro, suggested that the government’s borrowing costs were rising to levels that might eventually cut the country off from debt markets.
“The risk premium says Spain doesn’t have the market door open,” Mr. Montoro told Onda Cero radio, Reuters reported. “The risk premium says that as a state we have a problem in accessing markets, when we need to refinance our debt.”
The risk premium describes the extra interest rate that investors demand to hold Spanish debt, compared with German debt, which is considered the safest in the euro zone. Spain’s 10-year bonds now yield about 6.3 percent, compared with Germany’s 1.2 percent; thus, the risk premium stands at about 5.1 percentage points.
Mr. Montoro said Spain needed help from European institutions to recapitalize, though he did not give an indication of how much money was required. Spain is planning a bond auction on Thursday that could help decide whether the country must seek a full bailout package.
Endorsing the plan for a more integrated banking system would show that European leaders were willing to endow centralized institutions with powers that in the past were closely guarded by national governments.
The proposals “form one of the cornerstones of a future banking union for Europe,” Michel Barnier, the European commissioner responsible for the internal market, said during an interview on Tuesday, a day ahead of the formal announcement.
The detailed proposal for steps toward a so-called banking union comes a day after Germany indicated it might provide greater support for its most indebted euro zone partners in exchange for more centralized control over government spending in Europe.
“The world wants to know how we expect the political union to complement the currency union,” Chancellor Merkel said Monday.
Ms. Merkel has made similar statements in the past, but they take on added weight in the current crisis. While the German economy has been impervious to the problems so far, the country conducts most of its trade with other European countries and cannot remain aloof forever, economists say.