With the Eurozone officially in recession for the first time in history, it is expected today’s mini-summit between the leaders of Germany and France in Paris will concentrate mainly on economic matters.

Nicolas Sarkozy is expected to use the occasion to try to persuade Angela Merkel to put Germany’s financial muscle behind his proposal for a European rescue plan.

Their meeting comes ten days after the G20 in Washington and two days before the European Commission reveals details of the support to be offered to the 27 member states.

Reports suggest this may involve funds of up to 130 billion euros, in a back-up to each country’s national measures.

The German economy is technically already in a recession. Hoping to save the jobs of around a million workers, the government has adopted its own national rescue plan, consisting of a series of targeted measures representing a total investment of 32 billion euros over two years.

Copyright © 2012 euronews