8 December 2011 Last updated at 14:30 GMT
Mr Sarkozy says Europe is in much dangerFrench President Nicolas Sarkozy has warned that “never has the risk of disintegration been greater” for Europe in a speech in Marseille.
He was addressing a gathering of European leaders of the centre right.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said it would take years to overcome the crisis but “we need to have more Europe”.
EU leaders are preparing for a key summit in Brussels, where they will be trying to clinch a deal on how to tackle the eurozone debt crisis.
Mr Sarkozy said Europe was in much danger.
“Never has Europe been so necessary. Never has it been in so much danger,” he said.
“Never have so many countries wanted to join Europe. Never has the risk of a disintegration of Europe been so great. Europe is facing an extraordinarily dangerous situation.”
He said the eurozone economies still had a few weeks to decide, but that time was working against them.
“The diagnosis is that we have a few weeks to decide because time is working against us. If we aren’t in agreement on this, I fear that we won’t be able to agree on anything. That’s the analysis.”
Mrs Merkel has said changes to the European constitution are necessary. She said all 27 member states in the European Union had a duty to Europe, and had to work together to overcome the crisis in the eurozone.
National egos and interests had to be put aside, she added.
Germany and France are pushing for new EU treaties, saying stricter fiscal rules should be enshrined there.
As the leaders were speaking, the European Central Bank cut its interest rates back to their historic low of 1%, as expected by financial markets.
Earlier, European Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso, who is also in Marseille, urged EU to “do everything” to save the euro ahead of the Brussels summit.
“The entire world is watching. We must do everything” to save the euro, he said, adding: “It is extremely important that we all together, all the EU, show that the euro is irreversible.”
The three leaders are attending the annual congress of the centre-right grouping in the European Parliament, the European People’s Party (EPP), in the southern French city, along with Mrs Merkel.
US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner met new Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti in Rome earlier on Thursday to discuss ways of supporting the eurozone, and how international institutions like the IMF could assist the region “in this delicate phase”, Mr Monti said in Rome.
Mr Geithner said “the world can be encouraged by the progress made in the last few weeks” and that the US has a very strong interest in the success of the EU summit.
This is the latest in a series of talks Mr Geithner is holding with eurozone leaders as US concern over the crisis deepens.
Merkel-Sarkozy letter Continue reading the main story
The key proposal on the agenda of the gathering in the Belgian capital later on Thursday is how to enforce budgetary discipline with automatic penalties for those eurozone nations that overspend.
Mrs Merkel and Mr Sarkozy are seeking to enforce this by changing the existing EU treaties.
“We are convinced that we need to act without delay,” the two leaders wrote in a joint letter to European Council President Herman Van Rompuy, adding that the new treaty was needed by March.
Mr Van Rompuy is offering a plan which requires only amending the treaties.
The Merkel-Sarkozy letter also called for “a renewed contract between the euro area member states”.
The German-French plan is based on the following key provisions:
- the European Commission to have the power to impose penalties for nations that run excessive budget deficits
- all 17 eurozone nations should amend their national legislation to require balanced budgets
- the eurozone countries to have common corporation and financial transaction taxes
- any future bailouts would not require private investors to absorb part of the costs, as happened in the Greece case
Mr Van Rompuy is offering a fast-track “fiscal compact” that does not need lengthy ratification by parliaments or national referendums.
The 10 non-eurozone members of the 27-member EU, including the UK, are concerned they may become isolated if the eurozone nations – driven by Berlin and Paris – decide to move to a new treaty on their own.