Papandreou to Hold Emergency Talks With Sarkozy, Merkel Ahead of G20 Summit

The embattled Prime Minister of Greece George Papandreou will participate in emergency talks with French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Wednesday, ahead of the commence of the G20 summit on Thursday to discuss the debt crisis in Greece.

Sarkozy told reporters that talks with Papandreou would involve discussions on the conditions under which the engagements undertaken will be kept.

The talks and the G20 summit will be held in Cannes, France.

Although European Union (EU) members recently hammered out a deal to relieve Greece’s mountainous debt problems, Papandreou threw a monkey-wrench into the works by saying the would put to the rescue agreement up to a vote in a referendum (in which, the Greek public would likely defeat the proposal).

Underscoring the magnitude of the crisis, a virtual who’s-who of European political and financial elite will also join the emergency summit, including European Council President Herman Van Rompuy, European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, Eurogroup President Jean-Claude Juncker, and International Monetary Fund (IMF) managing director Christine Lagarde.

According to reports, it is not clear if Greece’s finance minister Evangelos Venizelos will attend the summit. Venizelos was recently released from a hospital after complaining of stomach pains.

Stock markets in Europe and the United States have reacted negatively to the referendum?

Clearly, Greece will dominate matters at the Cannes summit. US President Barack Obama has demanded that Eurozone leaders establish an explicit plan to alleviate the continent’s debt crisis.

Obama's spokesman, Jay Carney, said in a statement: [The Europeans] need to implement the very important decisions they made last week to provide a conclusive resolution to it.

The leaders of China and India will also attend the Cannes summit. Eurozone leaders have been quietly asking these emerging market giants to invest in the European rescue fund.

India’s Prime Minister Manmohan Singh told reporters: It is important for the Cannes Summit to signal a strong and coordinated approach to put the global economy back on track.