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European stocks were called to open lower on Wednesday, following Asia overnight where shares fell ahead of a crucial meeting of European policymakers which some analysts fear will not bring forward a lasting plan to ease the sovereign debt crisis in the euro zone.
The FTSE is called 16 points lower, the DAX in Frankfurt is expected to open lower by 22 points and the CAC 40 is called down by 12 points.
Doubts have been cast over the likelihood of leaders finding agreement over how to deal with the debt crisis, but Jean Claude Juncker, prime minister of Luxembourg and head of the Eurogroup finance ministers, said in a TV interview late on Tuesday that he believes leaders will take "crucial and even groundbreaking decisions."
However, Dutch finance minister Jan Kees De Jager told his nation's parliament on Tuesday that the latest EU summit might not yield an agreement and he accused the "Anglo-Saxon press" of hyping the meeting as "decisive". He added that it was better to take more time to reach an agreement on bank recapitalization, haircuts on Greek debt and the nature of the EFSFthan to reach an agreement quickly that might not be workable.
US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner urged European leaders to provide clear details on a plan to resolve the crisis in the euro zone on Tuesday, saying outlining their "objectives" would not be enough.
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