BRUSSELS -- European Union (EU) finance ministers have failed to reach an agreement on a uniform supervisory mechanism for European banks, Cypriot Finance Minister Vassos Shiarly said on late Tuesday.

"We have almost reached an agreement apart from a limited number of articles," Shiarly, whose country is holding the rotating presidency of the EU, told reporters at a press conference after a meeting of EU finance ministers.

Shiarly added that the ministers had "mandated the ad hoc working group to continue its examinations" on the unresolved issues such as the European Banking Authority (EBA) voting, and that an extraordinary meeting would be called on December 12.

The failed talks came as time was running out to draw up the legal framework for an EU-wide banking union by the end of the year.

The talks ended without a result because German finance minister Wolfgang Schaeuble and his French counterpart Pierre Moscovici were at odds over whether to give the European Central Bank (ECB) the final say on bank supervision.

"European banking supervision should include the ECB but they (EU leaders) did not say that the ECB should build up a European banking supervision," Schaeuble told reporters after the meeting.

"For the banking supervision we need democratic legitimacy and legal control, for monetary policy that is excluded by the need for independence. So it needs to be clearly separated," he added.

However, Moscovici argued that all EU banks must be under the supervision of the ECB.

"We in France want a supervision system that applies to all the banks - all the banks in the European Union - that is directed by and under the responsibility of the European Central Bank," Moscovici said.

EU Economic and Monetary Affairs Commissioner Olli Rehn, meanwhile, urged all sides to reach an agreement by the end of the year, as "the single supervisory mechanism will be the cornerstone of a full banking union, which in turn is a key part of a stronger Economic and Monetary Union."

"This is indeed a test that Europe cannot afford to fail, and one that Europe must be more than capable of passing," Rehn told reporters at the press conference.