Merkel to meet Hollande in Paris Wednesday

German Chancellor Angela Merkel will meet French President Francois Hollande in Paris on Wednesday evening to plan next week's European summit in Brussels, a German government spokesman said. "The subject of the meeting will be preparing the European summit to be held Thursday and Friday," the spokesman told Agence France Presse on Saturday ahead of the key meeting to search for solutions to the Eurozone crisis. He did not say whether the two leaders would meet over dinner or whether a press conference would be held. It was also not immediately known who took the initiative for the meeting. Hollande, Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti, his Spanish counterpart Mariano Rajoy and Merkel -- the leaders of the Eurozone’s four largest economies -- met in Rome Friday to thrash out a common position on the relentless debt crisis which is now threatening to engulf both Spain and Italy. In the talks Merkel reiterated her opposition to allowing Europe's crisis funds to recapitalize debt-stricken banks directly, stressing that EU treaties did not allow this.