Merkel To Address German Parliament On Euro Crisis

German Chancellor Angela Merkel (left) with French President Nicolas Sarkozy

Chancellor Angela Merkel is due to address the German parliament about the European debt crisis and the future of the euro.

Her speech on December 20comes one day after French President Nicolas Sarkozy said leading EU powers France and Germany planned to push for a new European Union treaty that would seek to impose budgetary discipline on the 17 countries in the euro-zone.

In a speech in the French city of Toulon, Sarkozy maintained that the EU will have to make crucial choices in the coming weeks to preserve the euro and the EU.

"A new economic cycle is starting," he said. "This cycle will be very different from the one before. The forthcoming cycle will be a cycle of debt reduction, which will necessarily bring the balance of the economy towards work and towards production that developed countries had a tendency to sacrifice too much."

Sarkozy and Merkel are expected to meet on December 5 to work on joint proposals to present to at a December 9 EU summit.

The summit is being seen as last-ditch chance for EU leaders to agree on moves to prevent the euro from collapsing under the weight of the debt crises in Greece, Italy and elsewhere.

compiled from agency reports