PARIS: France's President Nicolas Sarkozy promised on Friday to push Germany over his plan to more closely integrate eurozone economies after meeting Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou in Paris.
Sarkozy said he had been convinced by Papandreou's promise to cut Greece's debts and deficit, and said he would himself travel to Germany next week and push Europe's plan to reassure markets.
"It's not possible to let Greece fall, for moral and economic reasons," Sarkozy said, adding that he believes Athens to be "totally determined" to live up to promises to slash its deficit.
Sarkozy said he would meet in the coming days with Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel "to discuss ways and means to accelerate the economic integration of the eurozone economy."
He also said he would push for Greece to receive a previously agreed EU bail-out more quickly, despite concerns in some eurozone member states that Athens is dragging its feet over austerity measures.
For his part, Papandreou repeated his determination "to make the necessary changes, we are making the sacrifices and we will live up to our part of the decisions we have taken."
"We want to change Greece and make Greece a competitive and socially just and transparent country," he told journalists.
The Greek premier meeting with Sarkozy at the Elysee Palace came a day after German lawmakers threw the ailing eurozone a lifeline by agreeing to boost the bloc's 440-billion-euro ($590-billion) bail-out fund.
The plan received fresh impetus from Austria, which Friday became the 14th of 17 eurozone members to approve the funds and the European Commission, which urged possible hold-out Slovakia to move quickly to add its name to the deal.
France will be one of the key contributors to the expanded fund while its own banks are critically exposed to sovereign debt from Greece and other weak links in the eurozone chain -- Italy, Spain and Portugal.
France's concern is not just to maintain the stability of the eurozone but also to protect its own banks, which are seen as overexposed to risky debt from Mediterranean countries and short of liquidity.
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