BRUSSELS, April 18 (Reuters) - The leaders of the European Union (EU) had a long discussion at this week's summit over a planned capital markets union which also factored in various diverging positions on the matter, said French President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday.

Macron reiterated at a news conference in Brussels that reaching an agreement on this capital markets union was key to strengthening Europe's overall economy as it would improve the flow of money needed to finance EU investments and projects

"It is essential if we want to ensure that our next steps are successful," he said. (Reporting by Tassilo Hummel; Editing by Sudip Kar-Gupta)