Merkel and Sarkozy support Greece

“Merkel and Sarkozy take the reins on Greece,” headlines El Periódico. Following another day of tensions on financial markets, “Germany and France attempt to avoid an ‘uncontrolled’ default by Greece,” notes the Barcelona daily. The intervention of Berlin and Paris is expected to be in the form of a video-conference between German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Greek PM Georges Papandreou on Wednesday, September 14, “as a gesture to not abandon Greece to its fate”. The discussion is scheduled just ahead of a meeting of the European Union Council of Finance Ministers on September 16 in Wroclaw, Poland. The ministers must face the “delicate European economic situation” currently “prey to rumours” that have shaken it, adds adds El Periódico. The paper also notes the criticism that greeted the comments of US President Barack Obama, who recently stated that Italy and Spain are a serious “problem” for the euro. “It may be that Obama was not discerning,” the paper says, but he pointed out “the disarray of the world in the face of the sluggishness and the doubts in decision-making within the European Union”.