Sarkozy: World Growth Must Come First

Meanwhile, the G20 wrestles with Greece mess

(NEWSER) - Things aren’t looking good for George Papandreou ahead of tomorrow’s confidence vote: The Greek prime minister has lost several key supporters over his shocking plan to put the EU bailout to a vote on Dec. 4—and now has a majority of just one, Reuters reports. Greece's use of Europe's common currency "cannot depend on a referendum," said Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos as he broke with Papandreou today. Papandreou called an emergency meeting of his Cabinet after Venizelos’ defection, the Washington Post reports. If he cannot scrape by with his slim majority on tomorrow’s vote, he will lose his job and the referendum will likely not occur; there is also speculation his own party will ask him to resign. More»

Mum on details, will pitch to EU leaders this month

(AP) - The leaders of Germany and France, the eurozone's two biggest economies, say they have reached agreement on strengthening Europe's shaky banking sector. German Chancellor Angela Merkel says she and French President Nicolas Sarkozy "are determined to do the necessary to ensure the recapitalization of Europe's banks." Merkel spoke after talks with Sarkozy at Berlin's chancellery today aimed at forging an agreement ahead of a summit of the European Union's 27 leaders later this month. More»

French, American presidents meet at White House

(NEWSER) - President Obama and Nicolas Sarkozy discussed ways to stabilize the world economy and prevent another global financial crisis today at the White House ahead of the G8 and G20 meetings, Bloomberg reports. While the two countries would seem to be at odds on world finance—many French officials believe that the US dollar should be used less often as an international reserve currency—Sarkozy acknowledged that the dollar has a "key role." More»

That's one quick theme emerging from the summit

(NEWSER) - Look like a theme is emerging from the G20, at least judging by a spate of instant-analysis headlines now moving. And the White House won't like it:

• New York Times : "Traveling in Asia, Obama's Glow Dims"
• Wall Street Journal : "China's Hu Rebuffs Weakened Obama at Summit"
• Independent : "Summit marks shift in power to the East"

Obama slams China over currency manipulation

(NEWSER) - G20 leaders have agreed to curb “persistently large imbalances” in saving and spending and set “indicative guidelines” against trade imbalances, but more specific decisions on how to identify and fix said imbalances were left until next year, reports the New York Times . The finance minsters are to agree on these guidelines by June; the IMF will then use them to analyze the cause and effect of the imbalances in advance of next year's G20 meeting. More»