ECB closely involved in drafting euro zone integration plan

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Plans for tighter euro zone fiscal and economic integration outlined by European Council President Herman Van Rompuy on Tuesday were closely discussed with the European Central Bank during the drafting process, euro zone officials said.

"What (ECB President Mario) Draghi is looking for is a firm commitment, set into stone, from the member states to move towards a fiscal union," one euro zone official said on Wednesday.

The ECB president signalled in a speech to the European Parliament last week that the ECB could step up its crisis-fighting measures if euro zone politicians delivered a "fiscal compact" at the summit on Thursday and Friday.

Euro zone officials said what Draghi was looking for was a firm commitment, set in stone, from euro zone countries that they would move towards a fiscal union.

The first euro zone official, who was involved in the work on the Van Rompuy report, said he understood a "firm commitment" to mean a clear plan to implement strict fiscal discipline in the euro zone.

Euro zone officials said Germany and France were still opposed to the idea of joint bond issuance, which the Van Rompuy report said was an idea that could be explored.

There was no agreement yet between Paris and Berlin on the idea of removing the 500 billion euro (426.8 billion pound) ceiling for the joint lending capacity of the current and the future bailout funds, also floated by Van Rompuy, euro zone officials said.

(Reporting by Julien Toyer, Ilona Wissenbach and Luke Baker; writing by Jan Strupczewski; editing by Rex Merrifield)