PARIS (Reuters) – Relentless crisis management is straining the Franco-German relationship that underpins the euro, pitting Paris against Berlin over how best to leverage the EFSF rescue fund to contain the currency bloc’s debt fiasco.

Sources have used words like “dire” and “explosive” to describe recent exchanges between the French and German camps, whose disagreement over whether to draw the European Central Bank deeper into the rescue effort could derail a promised crisis plan.

PARIS (Reuters) – The world’s leading economies pressed Europe on Saturday to act decisively within eight days to resolve the euro zone’s sovereign debt crisis which is endangering the world economy.

In unusually direct language, finance ministers and central bankers of the Group of 20 major economies said they expected an October 23 European Union summit to “decisively address the current challenges through a comprehensive plan”.

PARIS (Reuters) – The world’s leading economies pressed Europe Saturday to act boldly within eight days to resolve the euro zone’s sovereign debt crisis which is weighing on the world economy.

In unusually direct language, finance ministers and central bankers of the Group of 20 major economies said they expected an October 23 European Union summit to “decisively address the current challenges through a comprehensive plan.”

PARIS (Reuters) – A short-lived push by developing economies at G20 talks to give the IMF more resources hinted at the frustration simmering among emerging powers who are powerless to halt a euro zone crisis that is hurting their own prospects.

Several developing countries in the Group of 20 advocated ramping up the International Monetary Fund’s firepower as finance deputies met in Paris, but the plan was rejected by the United States and others.

PARIS, Oct 14 (Reuters) – G20 finance chiefs and central
bank heads from the world’s biggest economies meet in Paris on
Friday needing to find a solution to a deepening euro zone debt
crisis that has fanned fears of a global recession.

Underlining the challenge for European policymakers,
Standard and Poor’s cut Spain’s long-term credit rating, citing
the country’s high unemployment, tightening credit and high
private sector debt.

PARIS, Oct 14 (Reuters) – G20 finance chiefs and central
bank heads meet in Paris on Friday urgently needing to find a
convincing solution to a deepening euro zone debt crisis that
has fanned fears of a global slide into recession.

A source at the French finance ministry — which is battling
to flesh out the bones of a crisis resolution plan with Germany
in time for an Oct. 23 European Union summit — said the euro
zone was more pressing than anything else on the two-day agenda.

PARIS (Reuters) – A strong showing by hardline leftist Arnaud Montebourg in France’s Socialist Party presidential primary has made the selection of a moderate candidate less of a certainty and could drag the party’s 2012 campaign further to the left.

Francois Hollande, a moderate who wants to curb the public deficit and foster closer European integration, won 39 percent in Sunday’s first round, beating Martine Aubry, a more old-school leftist. She secured 31 percent, according to results released on Monday with 86.5 percent of the vote counted.

PARIS (Reuters) – A strong showing by hardline leftist Arnaud Montebourg in France’s Socialist Party primary vote makes the selection of a moderate candidate less of a certainty and could drag the party’s 2012 presidential campaign further to the left.

Francois Hollande, a moderate who wants to curb the public deficit and foster closer European integration, won 39 percent in Sunday’s first-round vote, beating Martine Aubry, a more old-school leftist who secured 31 percent, according to results released Monday with 86.5 percent of the vote counted.

PARIS (Reuters) – A strong showing by hardline leftist Arnaud Montebourg in France’s Socialist Party primary vote makes the selection of a moderate candidate less of a certainty and could drag the party’s 2012 presidential campaign further to the left.

Francois Hollande, a moderate who wants to curb the public deficit and foster closer European integration, won 39 percent in Sunday’s first-round vote, beating Martine Aubry, a more old-school leftist who secured 31 percent, according to results released Monday with 86.5 percent of the vote counted.

PARIS (Reuters) – France should retain its cherished AAA credit rating even if it shoulders billions of euros in liabilities for troubled Franco-Belgian bank Dexia and injects capital into other banks, analysts say, although the fine print of any move will be key.

Limited loan guarantees, that would count as off-balance sheet items for public finances, and one-off investments in bank stock that should increase in value over time, would not translate into risks for sovereign debt, they say.