France Says Merkel to Meet Sarkozy over Debt Crisis

French President Nicolas Sarkozy on Thursday called a meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel amid market turmoil to find solutions to the Eurozone debt crisis.

Merkel will travel next Tuesday to Paris for the meeting which is aimed at producing "joint proposals" on the governance of the Eurozone before the end of the summer, Sarkozy's office said in a statement.

The announcement came as financial markets worldwide were in turmoil on concerns that the U.S. and Eurozone debt crisis may bring a new recession.

The Eurozone crisis is fuelled by fears that Spain or Italy might default on their debt and possibly spark a break-up of the currency shared by 17 countries.

EU leaders are trying to implement a July agreement aimed at beefing up the euro's defenses. But many of the measures need national parliamentary approval and that process could drag on to the end of the year in some cases.

Markets are wondering whether France and Germany can continue to underwrite the debts of troubled Eurozone countries without losing their own top credit ratings and thus falling victim to the crisis themselves.