French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor¹ Angela Merkel are to meet to agree on joint² proposals aimed at resolving the eurozone debt crisis.

法国总统萨科奇与德国总理默克尔将要会面商讨解决欧盟债务危机的联合提议。

'Merkozy' - the French and German leaders have been working together closely in recent weeks
They will take their ideas to an EU summit on Friday that is being seen as crucial for the single currency.

Germany favours strict EU central control while France wishes to preserve more national sovereignty.

Meanwhile, two badly-hit Eurozone countries, Italy and Ireland, are preparing tighter austerity measures.

In Italy, Prime Minister Mario Monti is due to seek approval for his government's plans in parliament.

Taxes on the assets of the wealthy will go up, as will pension ages. There will be a major drive to tackle tax evasion³.

And Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny has said the population must prepare for a tough budget this week.

Public spending will be cut by 2.2bn euros (£1.9bn) a year and taxes raised by 1.5bn euros, with VAT⁴ increasing to 23%.

Treaty talk

Monday's Franco-German meeting in Paris kicks off a week of meetings involving European leaders, the European Central Bank (ECB) and US Treasury⁵ Secretary Timothy Geithner, culminating in Brussels on Friday with an EU summit.

With financial markets putting pressure on some of the eurozone's largest - and most highly indebted（负债的） - nations, Mr Sarkozy said the stakes were high.

"What will remain of Europe if the euro disappears?" he asked. "Nothing."

France and Germany must play a key role to ensure "a zone of stability", he said last week.

"We must confront those who doubt the stability of the euro and speculate on its break-up with total solidarity⁶."

Mrs Merkel has promised "concrete steps towards a fiscal⁷ union" - in effect close integration⁸ of the tax-and-spend polices of individual eurozone countries, with Brussels imposing⁹ penalties on members that break the rules.

"We need budget discipline and an effective crisis management mechanism," she said. "So we need to change the treaties or create new treaties."

Mr Sarkozy faces an election early next year and is under pressure not to cede¹⁰（放弃，割让） sovereignty to unelected officials in Brussels.