Sarkozy flies to Frankfurt for eurozone talks

In a last-minute effort to come to an agreement for a solution in the eurozone crisis, French President Nicolas Sarkozy flew to Frankfurt to speak with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, the Associated Press reports.

Sarkozy requested an “informal meeting” not only with Merkel, but also European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet and International Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde, AP reports.

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Sarkozy told French parliamentarians the dispute was holding up negotiations, Reuters reports.

The French president left Paris after a brief visit to the maternity ward to see wife Carla Bruni after giving birth to their first child, the Financial Times reports. He felt the talks had become “bogged down” over the issue of the European Central Bank supporting the 440 billion euro European Financial Stability Facility, the FT reports.

There are only four days left before the European Union and Group of 20 summit are supposed to agree on how to solve the eurozone crisis and many of the difference remain between France and Germany, especially over the “proposed ‘haircut’ for private creditors in a voluntary rescheduling of Greece’s outstanding debt,” FT reports.

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"No statement is planned at the end of this working meeting," which will also include the finance ministers of the two countries, said Sarkozy's office, AP reports.

France has argued to turn the European Financial Stability Facility into a bank which could access funding from the ECB, but both the ECB and Merkel have opposed this, Reuters reports.

Merkel tried to lower expectations that a plan to combat the eurozone crisis would happen by Sunday at the G20 Summit, Bloomberg Business Week reports. But the G20 plans to keep Sunday as a tight deadline.

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