European Union leaders postponed on Friday a package of reforms to safeguard the euro zone from a new crisis, giving finance ministers another six months to work out compromises in discussions that have dragged on since June 2015. The 19 countries sharing the euro, shaken by the sovereign debt crisis, want to prepare for future trouble better through close integration of banks, a euro zone budget and expanded role for the ESM bailout fund. But even though this is a slimmed down wish-list, EU leaders failed to agree any of the three elements on Friday. The leaders’ statement said the Eurogroup of euro zone finance ministers would continue to work on the reforms Reform of the bailout fund would allow it to lend to the euro zone’s bank resolution fund, which arranges the winding down of banks, should it run out of cash in a major crisis. It would also make it more difficult for investors to block sovereign debt restructuring and allow the ESM to mediate between investors and the sovereign. Euro zone governments agreed this in June, but Italy withdrew support due to domestic politics and to block a German push to reduce risks posed by bond portfolios in banks. Germany wants to stop treating government bonds as risk-free and limit the amount of bonds of a single sovereign that a bank can hold to make it less vulnerable.