G8 summit: Europe’s in the toilet. Let’s meet!

I've never been there, but the French seaside resort of Deauville sounds nice.

Here's how Wikipedia puts it:

With its racecourse, harbour, international film festival, marinas, conference centre, villas, Grand Casino and sumptuous hotels, Deauville is regarded as the "queen of the Norman beaches" and one of the most prestigious seaside resorts in all of France. Closest seaside when coming from Paris, the city and the nearby region of the Côte Fleurie (Flowers Coast) has long been home to French high society's seaside houses and is often referred to as the Parisian riviera. Since the 19th century, the town of Deauville has been a fashionable holiday resort for the international upper class. Deauville is also a desired wealthy family resort.

So on the surface, it's fitting that the G8 is holding its annual meeting at this posh "resort for the international upper class."

Consisting of the U.S., U.K. France, Germany, Japan, Italy, Canada and Russia, the Group of Eight likes to style itself as an exclusive smattering of the world's richest and most important countries.

There's one little problem with that: any group of global economic powers that doesn't include China, India or Brazil (not to mention Turkey, Mexico, South Africa, Indonesia and many others) has serious shortcomings.

But that's hardly the only problem of these two days of talks.

Europe is in the toilet. Japan has been ravaged by quake, tsunami and nuclear disasters. The Middle East is embroiled in new and increasing violence. And the U.S. economy — the world's largest — isn't looking so hot, either.

Let's meet!

G8 leaders are expected to show solidarity with Japan. They're also likely to offer support for President Barack Obama's plan to help the new governments in Egypt and Tunisia. Democracy, after all, requires a healthier economy.

They'll also talk about nuclear safety, climate change, the internet, and will hold a special session on Africa.

But the real show in Deauville will be Europe's ongoing debt nightmare.

Spanish are still protesting in the streets, joining their unhappy brethren in Greece and Portugal. European leaders have been fighting about the debt mess, and the one person that has shown some skill at bringing these northern and southern factions together — former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn — is in New York City awaiting trial on sexual assault charges. Meanwhile, global markets are growing increasingly nervous.

All of this is starting to look very problematic for the U.S. economy, too.

“For the United States, the euro is a big concern,” Nicolas Véron, a senior fellow at Bruegel, an economics research institute in Brussels, told the New York Times. “The Americans want to avoid systemic instability.”

Big words.

But you better believe that Europe will be a big topic of discussion in Deauville, at the "racecouse, harbour, marinas, conference centre, villas, Grand Casino and sumptuous hotels."

Let's meet!