EU must do what it can on bank union without new treaty: Hollande

Europe should go as far as possible on the path towards banking union under existing treaties before considering any treaty change, French President Francois Hollande said on Friday.

"If it appeared legally necessary to amend the treaty, we would do so, but it would only be from a legal perspective, and in no case from a political perspective," Hollande told journalists after an EU summit in Brussels.

"Before we get there I think we must go as far as possible in the framework of existing treaties," he added. Earlier, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said EU treaty changes would be needed to create a central authority for bank resolution.

(Reporting by Emmanuel Jarry; editing by Leigh Thomas and Mark John)