European Union leaders are preparing for an emergency summit in Brussels to try to bridge differences over how to deal with the economic crisis.
The summit was called after French President Nicolas Sarkozy promised to bail out France's car industry - if it did not shift jobs out of France.
The French move raised fears that national protectionism could scupper hopes of recovery within the EU.
Leaders of badly-hit European nations meet earlier for separate talks.
Many of the newer EU members of Central and Eastern Europe have seen their financial institutions and economies battered by the developing recession.
The heads of nine of those nations, among them Hungary and Latvia, both facing serious liquidity problems, will meet before the full summit begins.
However, officials have played down chances of EU leaders taking any decision on Hungary's call for a 180bn euro aid package for Central and Eastern Europe.
