The Czech presidency of the European Union has called for an emergency
summit to coordinate efforts to confront the global economic crisis.
An
EU spokesman, Johannes Laitenberger, says the summit, expected by the
end of February, will serve to air preparatory views on measures the
27-nation bloc will consider at a regularly-scheduled summit in March.
The
summit call follows pressure from France. French officials have been
complaining about what they call a lack of economic strategy
coordination since the Czech Republic assumed the rotating EU
presidency January 1.
In December, EU leaders agreed on a
joint $260 billion stimulus plan to ease the impact of the worldwide
recession. But no plans have been offered detailing specific measures
to be taken by member countries.
In a related development,
Bavaria's Christian Social Union Party has chosen party secretary Karl
Theodor zu Guttenberg as its candidate to become Germany's new economy
minister.
The conservative Christian Social Union Party is the
Bavarian sister party to Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian
Democrats. It has two seats in her coalition Cabinet.
Zu
Guttenberg at age 37 will become the youngest German to be economy
minister in modern history. He replaces Michael Glos, who unexpectedly
resigned Saturday.
