U.S. President George W. Bush will host French President Nicolas Sarkozy and European Union (EU) Commission Chief Jose Manuel Barroso at the Camp David presidential retreat this weekend for talks on the global financial crisis, the White House announced Tuesday. “They will have a chance to talk about a number of issues, but the global economy will obviously be something they focus on” during a meeting and dinner at the retreat in western Maryland, national security spokesman Gordon Johndroe said. Sarkozy and Barroso already had planned to be in Canada later this week for several meetings, including the EU-Canada summit, Johndroe said. White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said Bush was open to Sarkozy's call for a special summit of leaders from the Group of Seven (G7) industrialized countries, but that the international community was focused on immediate action. “No one ever said it's off the table, but we don't have a definitive date. I think that in the future, we'll see if we can pull something together like that,” Perino told reporters. “Right now, everybody's been very focused on the immediate issues,” she said. “The president remains open to meeting at a head-of-state level.” Bush spoke with Sarkozy, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown earlier on Tuesday as part of the effort to ensure a coordinated global response to the economic crisis, Perino said. On Monday, Bush hosted Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi for talks on the global crisis.
