European financial summit in Paris

Paris is to host a European financial summit to discuss the current global crisis with major world leaders taking part.

The meeting scheduled for Saturday in Paris will include leaders from Britain, Germany and Italy, along with the president of the European Commission and European Central Bank chief, the French President`s office has announced.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy is hoping that this summit will lead to a world summit later this year, the BBC reported.

The financial crisis in Europe has cost the UK government around £14bn following the bailing out of Bradford and Bingley while the Fortis Bank, cost the governments in Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands about £9bn.

There is a lack of agreement on how the Paris talks should proceed with the British Prime Minister Gordon Brown`s spokesman saying that he did not expect a discussion of an EU-wide bank fund at the meeting.

The spokesman continued that the meeting`s purpose is to discuss how each of the four major economies in Europe is responding to the global financial crisis.

SM/HAR