France hopes a deal will be clinched on a European banking union before the end of 2013, the country’s Finance Minister Pierre Moscovici said on Sunday. In Berlin on Friday European finance ministers and senior EU officials met to try to forge a compromise on rules to wind down stricken banks, with time running out to reach a deal by a year-end deadline. The sticking point is staunch opposition from Germany, and some of its northern European allies, to proposals that would give the European Commission new powers to wind down banks.