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Sarkozy calls for EU summit ahead of global finance talks

STRASBOURG - French President Nicolas Sarkozy proposed on Tuesday a meeting of EU leaders to prepare for a global summit next month on reforming the international financial system.

"I will have the opportunity to propose to my fellow heads of states and government a meeting to prepare for these summits," said Sarkozy during a speech at the European Parliament in Strasbourg.

Sarkozy, US President George W. Bush and European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso agreed Saturday to hold a series of summits on the global financial crisis.

Europe should bring to the meetings "the idea of a rebuilding of world capitalism," he said.

"What has happened is an act of treason against the values of capitalism, it is not a result of the market economy," added Sarkozy, whose country holds the EU's rotating presidency.

"The most simple solution" for the global summits would be to bring the G8 (group of eight) largest industrialised nations together with the five biggest emerging economies, led by China and India, said Sarkozy.

The aim of his upcoming visit to China would be "to convince the Asian powers to take part in this rebuilding," he added, a reference to the Asia-Europe summit (ASEM) in Beijing on Friday and Saturday.