French President Nicolas Sarkozy is heading to Frankfurt for talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and senior officials on the euro zone debt crisis.
He is reported to have told a meeting of French politicians earlier that talks on the crisis were stalled over whether the European Central Bank should support the zone's EFSF rescue fund.
Sarkozy's office said outgoing ECB chief Jean-Claude Trichet, his replacement Mario Draghi, EU president Herman Van Rompuy, European Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso, International Monetary Fund director Christine Lagarde and the French and German finance ministers were also to take part in the "informal meeting".
France and Germany have pledged to come up with a convincing crisis plan in time for a summit of EU leaders on Sunday.
Sarkozy earlier told legislators that Paris and Berlin were divided over what the relationship should be between the ECB and the EFSF, which France wants to have a banking licence which would allow it to leverage its capital at the ECB.
"In Germany, the coalition is divided on this issue. It is not just Angela Merkel who we need to convince," Sarkozy told a lunch meeting today, according to legislator Charles de Courson.
While France has argued that the most effective way of leveraging the firepower of the EFSF is to turn it into a bank, both the ECB and the German government have opposed this. Sarkozy spoke to Merkel by telephone earlier today, diplomatic sources said.
A European source in Brussels said that the proposal to convert the EFSF into a bank had not been abandoned despite German resistance.
Earlier, European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said he would insist on decisive action from EU leaders at Sunday's summit on tackling the debt crisis.
He said the summit must deliver "a vigorous response to give guarantees to all countries, notably Spain".
Barroso said the summit could be decisive for the EU, echoing calls by French President Nicolas Sarkozy, whereas Germany has been careful to downplay expectations of agreements on a host of different challenges.
At the summit leaders are being called on to agree financial aid for Greece, a recapitalisation of banks, a leveraging up of the European rescue fund, tightened cross-border governance and measures to boost growth.
Germany "won't contribute more to EFSF"
A German finance ministry spokesman has said the euro zone rescue fund, the EFSF, will not be raised beyond the €440 billion already approved, nor will Germany's participation rise beyond €211 billion.
Martin Kotthaus, spokesman for finance minister Wolfgang Schauble, told a news conference that there were "productive and positive" talks taking place across Europe ahead of meetings this weekend.
He said the discussions centre on how euro zone countries can use the €440 billion European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) most effectively. "There is no discussion about raising it beyond €440 billion, that's it, finito, basta," he said.
Kotthaus said he expected there would be a solution within days. He also said that Schauble had not spoken about any concrete figure for a possible leveraging of the EFSF. But he added Schauble may have mentioned a hypothetical figure at a meeting of party leaders in Berlin on Tuesday.
The Financial Times Deutschland reported had reported that Schauble suggested that the firepower of the EFSF could be increased to €1 trillion.
The paper said the fund could be leveraged to offer partial insurance of 20-30% should member countries not be able to repay their sovereign debt. The partial insurance coverage would enable euro zone countries to borrow more on the capital markets, the newspaper said.
