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Eurozone Leaders Meet in Paris to Find Common Solution to Financial Crisis

Monday, Oct 13, 2008

The Eurozone leaders of the 15 European countries using the EUR currency are holding a summit Sunday afternoon in Paris in an attempt to find a common approach to the financial crisis .

The session follows a meeting in Washington Saturday bringing together the world's financial leaders and generating an appeal from US President George W. Bush for a global approach to the crisis.

The summit is organized by France, which is currently the rotational Chair of the European Union (EU). Participants anticipate that some of the decisions made at the Paris summit would be adopted by other countries members of the European Union (EU).

So far, European countries have reacted diversely to the crisis. Saturday French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel stated that there would be no common financial rescue fund for Europe, similar to the US bail-out plan.

The two spoke at a news conference in eastern France during the official ceremony commemorating the 50th anniversary of Franco-German reconciliation after World War II.

The German leader said "there was no question of a European fund" and "governments must "redirect the markets so they serve the people, and not ruin them," while Sarkozi pointed out that such move would pose "gigantic problems" in terms of coordination between European nations and that "the crisis demanded extremely rapid responses."

Merkel further explained that a "common tool box with individual countries using these tools to respond to their particular situation" could be the Sunday summit's outcome.

Gordon Brown, Prime Minister of the UK, is holding talks with Sarkozy in the French capital before the meeting. Great Britain is not part of the Eurozone.

The heads of the EU's four biggest economies - Britain, France, Germany and Italy - held a first crisis summit last week but were split over the need for a common plan.

Source: Sofia News Agency