Economic powerhouse Germany played down hopes Wednesday that a crucial debt summit will save the euro as French President Nicolas Sarkozy warned the risk of a eurozone "explosion" was very real.
Piling the pressure on EU leaders due to meet in Brussels from Thursday, Standard and Poor's put a number of large European banks on review and placed the European Union on watch for a downgrade of its AAA credit rating.
German officials said reaching a deal would be "difficult" as US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner pressed Europe for decisive action to tackle the crisis and US President Barack Obama spoke toGerman Chancellor Angela Merkel.
"Europe is not out of the crisis. The risk of an explosion abounds as long as the decisions taken with Angela Merkel are not implemented," Sarkozy told lawmakers from his ruling UMP party, according to a participant in the meeting.
US stocks erased losses in the last hour of trade Wednesday to end mostly higher, but European stocks and the euro slid as pessimism set in.
On Monday, Sarkozy and the German chancellor announced comprehensive reform plans for the eurozone, having called for changes to the 27-member EU treaty to improve a eurozone framework generally seen as defective almost 10 years after the common currency was introduced.
Merkel and Sarkozy sent a letter to EU president Herman Van Rompuy on Wednesday to outline their plans for "reinforced governance" of the eurozone "to ensure budget discipline as well as stronger growth and increased competitiveness."
They proposed a "new, common legal framework" to boost financial and labour market regulation, the harmonisation of the corporate tax base and the imposition of a tax on financial transactions.
In London, Prime Minister David Cameron said in parliament Wednesday that if Britain is asked to back a new EU treaty to breathe new life into the euro, he intended to exact a high price in return.
"The more that countries in the eurozone ask for, the more we will ask for in return," he said.
Cameron also repeated his threat to veto any treaty change if Britain fails to receive "safeguards" from its European partners, particularly for the City of London financial services hub.
This week's summit, where leaders will consider ways to improve budget discipline and tighten economic union, is seen as crucial to efforts to stop the debt contagion threatening the eurozone and to salvage the embattled single currency.
A spokesman for Merkel, Steffen Seibert, told journalists: "We are expecting very challenging and occasionally very difficult talks."
Earlier, a German government source, who insisted on anonymity, poured cold water on hopes for a deal at the summit.
"Several partners have not yet understood the gravity of the situation" facing the EU, the source said.
Austria joined Germany Wednesday in playing down expectations, with Chancellor Werner Faymann telling lawmakers the summit "will not meet the goal of creating a comprehensive firewall for the eurozone for the next three to five years."
Amid international concern the crisis will weaken the global economy, Geithner said he had told European leaders "how important it is for the US and countries around the world that Europe succeed."
"I'm confident they will succeed," he said after talks in Paris with French Finance Minister Francois Baroin.
Baroin stressed that in Brussels, "neither Angela Merkel nor Nicolas Sarkozy will leave the table without a strong agreement being signed."
Obama meanwhile spoke to Merkel, with both emphasising the need for a "lasting and credible solution to the crisis," according to the White House.
The eurozone's top powerbrokers will meet in a restricted session ahead of the full summit on Thursday, an EU diplomat said.
At the meeting will be Merkel, Sarkozy, European Central Bank head Mario Draghi, Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker, who is the head of the eurozone finance ministers' body, Van Rompuy and European Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso.
EU leaders are under intense pressure to convince markets they can come up with a rapid rescue plan for the eurozone following the threat of possible debt downgrades by Standard and Poor's.
S&P chief European economist Jean-Michel Six told France's Le Monde daily Wednesday the ratings agency "wanted to make a strong signal to emphasise the gravity of the crisis."
London's FTSE-100 index of top companies ended the day down 0.39 percent, while in Paris the CAC-40 dipped 0.11 percent and Frankfurt's DAX 30 dropped 0.57 percent. Milan shed 1.24 percent and Madrid 0.79 percent.
The euro, which had earlier gained against the dollar, slid to $1.3391 from $1.3397 late in New York on Tuesday.
Despite the European malaise, US markets got a boost from a late report from the Federal Reserve showing consumer credit was growing at a 3.7 percent annual rate in September, another sign that US consumers are spending, not hoarding, their dollars.
Just like socialist california: assume things will always be great and spend every bit that you can and more, life is a free ride...to heck with tomorrow or paying it back...idiots
4 Replies- Dila • Green Bay, United States •
Geithner was the problem, He lied to the Americans and he stole trillions from our kids.
Reply - Jamey • Pascagoula, United States •
A worldwide economic collapse is coming. Its about to get really ugly.
Reply - Cleo • Scranton, United States •
When you attempt to meld countries of different cultures, the ones that are irresponsible will eventually bleed the rest to death.
1 Reply - Eric • Anniston, United States •
The Euro was a bad idea from the git-go! A continent-wide currency? DOOMED to failure. Could you imagine if the US, Mexico and Canada were using the same currency under totally different economic policies? again...DOOMED TO FAILURE. That's why a "world currency" is a HORRIBLE idea.
2 Replies - RacerX
Geitner is pressing the Germans to step up because he knows the US banks don't have the money to pay out the insurance swaps that the US banks sold the euro banks... It's all about protecting his Wall St buddies... And Cameron is doing the same for his chaps in the CITY. Protect the BANKERS at all... More
Reply - Eric • Sacramento, United States •
Germany Just like the rest of Europe is buried in debt. Germany has a national debt of 2 trillion euro which per capita is as bad as the US and France is not far behind. If massive government spending and very high taxes were the key to prosperity Europe would be the land of milk and honey!
Reply - Ruck S • Los Angeles, United States •
Simpy put---another German Power Grab. ie "if you don't do what we say, you face the consequences" The Germans have tried to subdue Europe for 100 years, failed and destroyed it. Not by war this time but by the EU economy. France has always been their "Lapdog" ! Will Europe EVER LEARN? Read... More
Reply - Norm
Here is the rating agency that was in charge of rating financial instruments like the derivatives that have ruined millions of lives telling us now that the European nations are not worthy...Merkel is correct...S&P is a waste of time and should be relegated to the dust of history...S&P was... More
Reply - Alien
It maybe more satisfying, but at least these people are reading and making their comments, most are are just mad and want to vent their feelings and they express them the best way they can. Me some of my comments are based on the facts I see before me, some are based on my own humour. At 65 years... More
Reply - Ragmaniac • Palm Springs, United States •
It would be more satisfying if I could go to these European economy articles and find only well-reasoned comments. Unfortunately, there is only a little grain among the chaff. People seem to have opinions, even strong, nasty and unprintable ones, about things they a) know nothing about; b) do not... More
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