Paris - The four European members of the G8 group of leading industrial nations are to meet Saturday in Paris to discuss a European response to the economic crisis, Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker told the French radio station Europe 1 on Wednesday. In addition to officials from France, Germany, Italy and Britain, European Central Bank head Jean-Claude Trichet and Juncker, as head of the Eurogroup of eurozone finance ministers, will take part in the meeting.
Speaking on France 24 television late Tuesday, the president of the European Commission, Jose Manuel Barroso, said Brussels was preparing several measures, "and not only on the European level; something must be done on the global level as well."
The gathering, which was called for by French President Nicolas Sarkozy as acting president of the European Union, will also likely discuss preparations for an international summit meeting on the crisis, another Sarkozy proposal.
Juncker told Europe 1 that the economies of the eurozone countries would likely grow by less than 1 per cent in 2009.
"We have long months before us before we will be able to say that all the problems have been solved," he said.
