France, Spain want eurozone meeting before EU summit
France and Spain called Tuesday for a meeting of eurozone leaders ahead of this week’s EU summit in a bid to break the impasse over the Greek debt crisis.
President Nicolas Sarkozy said the meeting of leaders from the 16-nation eurozone should be held just before the European Union summit in Brussels on Thursday and Friday.
“A meeting before the European Council would be a good thing to strengthen the leadership of the Eurogroup,” said the president at a joint news conference with Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero.
“The Eurogroup must help Greece move forward,” he said. At their summit, European leaders are set to discuss a rescue package for Greece that has run into strong opposition from Germany.
European diplomatic sources said Brussels was hoping that the eurozone leaders’ meeting could yield a deal on the Greek crisis but that such an agreement was far from guaranteed.
“We have agreed to request a meeting of heads of state and government of the Eurogroup just before the European Council” summit, said Sarkozy at the Elysee palace. afp
