Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou will hold a conference call on Wednesday with French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Reuters cited a Greek government official as saying on Tuesday. The call comes amid renewed talk among euro zone policymakers about a Greek default, prompted by the country's failure to meet the fiscal goals set out in its EU/IMF bailout. Sarkozy's office denied earlier on Tuesday that Paris and Berlin would issue a joint statement on Greece, after a French government source had said a statement would be made -- driving up the euro on hopes of action from the leaders. "Papandreou had a preparatory meeting on Tuesday with Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos and the heads of the country's biggest lender, National Bank of Greece, to prepare for a conference call tomorrow with Sarkozy and Merkel," the official, who declined to be named, told Reuters. Stock markets had fallen further on Tuesday morning on worries about Greece and the euro zone's third largest economy Italy, but they recovered some ground in midday trading. "There is not a Franco-German initiative today," an official at President Nicolas Sarkozy's office said. Sarkozy was still expected to address the media in Paris following a 5 p.m. (1500 GMT) meeting at his presidential palace with European Council President Herman Van Rompuy on the euro zone crisis. Merkel earlier told German radio that Europe's challenge today was "historic" and said everything must be done to keep the euro bloc intact.
