Europe needs unprecedented cooperation: Barroso

BRUSSELS: European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso said on Sunday that European governments need to start "unprecedented" cooperation to find a way out of the financial crisis.

"The commission has long called for deeper economic policy coordination within the euro area. We now need an unprecedented level of coordination to deal with this unprecedented crisis," Barroso said in a statement ahead of a summit of 15 European nations.

The Paris summit was seen as a last chance to hammer out a coordinated bank rescue package before panic-stricken stock markets reopen on Monday.

Two weeks after the collapse of Lehman Brothers and other US firms set off a worldwide shares crash, governments around the world are taking desperate measures to try and get credit flowing, raise capital and reassure savers.