WASHINGTON — Europeans may discover this week that the debt crisis is not only threatening the euro zone economy and the integrity of the common currency, but also diminishing Europe’s influence in world affairs.


For a second consecutive year, Europe’s problems are the major preoccupation as government officials and monetary policy makers gather in Washington for the spring meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, which run through Sunday.


Europe is the “epicenter” of potential global storms, said Christine Lagarde, the managing director of the I.M.F. and a former French finance minster.


On Thursday, in advance of the meetings, she expressed support for the measures that European leaders have taken to stem contagion. But she also called on European leaders to spark economic growth and to be willing to use the region’s bailout fund to recapitalize banks, while predicting that nations would contribute more money to the I.M.F. to build a “stronger global firewall” to contain further crises.


The failure of European leaders to convince the rest of the world that they have a grip on the crisis is more than just embarrassing, some policy makers said. It may also give them less weight in debates on other issues and hasten the shift of power away from developed countries and toward cash-rich and fast-growing emerging nations, like China, India and Brazil.


“Certainly the crisis in Europe has unveiled a structural shift of power,” said Thomas Mirow, president of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, which lends to countries in the former Eastern bloc as well as newly democratic Arab nations. “This is one of the big themes of the 21st century.”


Outside Europe, there remains concern that the Continent’s problems are undercutting world growth, and that there are shortcomings in the response by European policy makers.


In a measure of how widespread the concern is, one question at an I.M.F. briefing this week came from a reporter from Jamaica who asked whether Europe’s problems could spread to the Caribbean, where Spanish companies own many hotels.


The monetary fund and the World Bank have repeatedly chastised European leaders for acting too slowly to quiet markets and for cutting budgets too quickly, weakening economic growth around the world and contributing to an unemployment crisis across the Continent.


European elected officials do not seem to be enjoying the attention being directed at them, or the advice that comes with it.


Olivier Blanchard, the I.M.F.’s chief economist, said this week that euro zone members should consider issuing bonds backed by all members, a proposal unpopular among Germans who do not want to underwrite borrowing by countries like Italy.


Ms. Lagarde is pressuring Europe to make changes to its bailout fund so that it can lend to financial institutions, not just countries, as I.M.F. economists warn that rapid deleveraging by banks might destabilize financial markets in the next 18 months.


The bailout fund, as currently structured, “could actually help in terms of recapitalization anywhere in the euro zone,” Ms. Lagarde said on Thursday. “What we are advocating is that this be done without channeling through the sovereigns.”


German representatives, in particular, are likely to hear unwelcome advice in Washington. They will be told that they should moderate their insistence that euro zone countries like Spain and Greece adhere to strict austerity programs.


Traditional stimulus programs are probably out of the question because most governments simply do not have the money, many economists and officials said.


A senior German finance ministry official, speaking with reporters in Berlin on Tuesday, dismissed the notion that Europe needed a stimulus.


“We don’t see the need that perhaps other countries see to stimulate growth through further spending increases,” said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, in keeping with ministry policy.


German officials plan to point out what they believe are policy failings by the United States and other powers. For example, the senior official said that Germany would urge other nations to stay the course on the regulation of banks and financial markets.


But Europe may have less moral authority to press its views on such issues given that it is also asking the I.M.F. for more money to protect against a deepening of the euro zone crisis.