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European Union 'needs strong message' on Greece debt 20 July 2011 Last updated at 09:54 GMT

Wednesday, 20 July 2011

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French President Nicolas Sarkozy speaks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel French President Nicolas Sarkozy is meeting German Chancellor Angela Merkel
French Finance Minister Francois Baroin has stressed the need for Europe to send a "strong message" that it will act decisively to contain the Greek debt crisis.
He said Thursday's summit of European leaders should pave the way for further assistance to the debt-ridden country.
The International Monetary Fund has called on Europe to take strong action.
President Barack Obama has also spoken with German Chancellor Angela Merkel about the debt crisis.
"They agreed that dealing effectively with this crisis is important for sustaining the economic recovery in Europe as well as for the global economy," a White House statement said.
Mr Baroin's comments came as European banking shares recovered strongly from sharp falls earlier this week.
In France, Societe Generale and BNP were up about 3%, while in Germany, Deutsche Bank climbed 2.8% and Commerzbank rose more than 2%.
Banking shares fell sharply on Monday on debt fears and concerns about the credibility of last Friday's Europe-wide bank stress tests.
Debt rollover All eyes are now on Thursday's summit, with French President Nicolas Sarkozy travelling to Berlin to discuss the debt crisis with Mrs Merkel ahead of the meeting.
"This meeting at the highest decision-making level should allow us to take a further essential step to establish the conditions of a new package for Greece, that will make Greece's debt more bearable," Mr Baroin said.
"A strong message should be made tomorrow."
However, divisions remain among European leaders, and Mrs Merkel has played down the chances of Thursday's emergency eurozone summit resolving Greece's debt crisis.
Mrs Merkel wants private investors to contribute to any aid package by agreeing to roll over loans they have made to Greece.
However, the European Central Bank disagrees, arguing that such a rollover would constitute a default in the eyes of the international credit ratings agencies and, as such, would undermine investor confidence and the euro itself.
The EU and the IMF have been discussing a second aid package for Greece, expected to be a similar amount to the 110bn euro ($156bn; £97bn) package agreed last May.


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