01:39PM
France, Germany advocate new EU treaty: Sarkozy (by Polya Lesova)

LONDON (MarketWatch) -- French President Nicolas Sarkozy said on Thursday that France and Germany are advocating a new treaty that will reinvent the organization of the European Union. In a speech in the southern French city of Toulon, he added that the EU's Maastricht Treaty from the early 1990s is "imperfect." "We should overhaul Europe urgently," Sarkozy said. "If Europe doesn't change quickly enough, global history will be written without Europe." The French president also said that France and Germany must be united and be a pillar of stability.

01:28PM
Sarkozy: ECB is independent and will stay that way (by Christopher Noble)

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- French President Nicolas Sarkozy said Thursday that the European Central Bank was independent and would stay that way. He also said that no one should doubt the determination of the ECB to take responsibility for its part in helping to solve the euro zone's sovereign debt crisis. Sarkozy also said the euro must be defended by its members. "To defend the euro is to defend Europe," Sarkozy said in a speech in the southern city of Toulon.

01:24PM
Sarkozy: Europe is a necessity for France (by Christopher Noble)

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- French President Nicolas Sarkozy said Thursday that France's future was inseparably linked to Europe. "Europe is no longer a choice. Europe is a necessity," Sarkozy said in a speech in the southern French city of Toulon. He said the crisis has revealed the weaknesses in the European Union and that the EU must learn lessons from the crisis and use those lessons to rebuild the Europe's foundation. "Europe needs more solidarity. But more solidarity demands more discipline," he said, adding that European solidarity should not be an encouragement for some countries to take a lax approach to their finances. "Europe needs more political responsibility," he said. Sarkozy also said that German Chancellor Angela Merkel would come to Paris on Monday to work on Franco-German proposals to solve the crisis.

01:11PM
Sarkozy: Austerity alone will lead to recession (by Christopher Noble)

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) - French President Nicolas Sarkozy said Thursday that using austerity alone to solve the economic crisis afflicting France and the rest of Europe would lead to recession and possibly even depression. He said such an approach would make the French people pay nearly the whole cost of trying to recover from the crisis. "It would end in recession or depression," Sarkozy said in a speech in the southern French city of Toulon. Sarkozy said that cuts and economic reform were necessary but were only part of what were needed to help Europe emerge from its sovereign debt crisis.