Germany and France on Sunday reiterated their commitment to implementing the decisions of last month's emergency EU summit, in an effort to restore confidence in turbulent financial markets.

They stress the importance that parliamentary approval will be obtained swiftly by the end of September in their two countries, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy said in a joint statement.

Twin debt crises in Europe and the United States are causing global market turmoil and stoking fears of the rich world sliding back into recession.

Before troubled financial markets re-opened on Monday, Merkel and Sarkozy underlined the importance of the decisions made at the European summit on July 21.

They would allow the euro zone's bailout fund to buy bonds of debt-stricken states on the secondary market on the basis of an ECB analysis ...and on the basis of a decision by mutual agreement of the member states, in order to avoid contagion.

Worries are growing that Spain and Italy will be the next victims of the euro zone debt crisis.

Merkel and Sarkozy said they welcomed the recent budget consolidation measures by Italy and Spain, stressing that complete and speedy implementation of the announced measures is key to restore market confidence.

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi announced new measures on Friday to speed up deficit reduction and hasten economic reforms.

The European Central Bank faced a decision on Sunday whether to buy Italian bonds to try to prevent the euro zone debt crisis from widening.

Germany European union