EU summit starts in Brussels

On the eve of the summit, European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso renewed his call on the 27 EU member states to get united in tackling the financial crisis.

In an urgent bid to find solutions, leaders from the 15 EU countries that use the euro met in Paris for their first ever meeting on Sunday, only three days away from the larger EU summit.

The eurozone leaders hammered out a joint action plan, which would see European governments buy in banks to boost their finances and temporarily guarantee bank refinancing to ease the credit crunch, similar to the British bailout package.

In addition to the financial crisis, EU leaders also need to find a common line on the fight against climate change. The matter concerns the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.