
Italy's prime minister has warned European leaders that failure to agree on joint action will encourage market attacks on their economies.
Mario Monti is due to meet the leaders of France, Germany and Spain in Rome ahead of an EU summit next week.
He predicted "progressively greater speculative attacks" without unified action from all the eurozone members.
Friday's talks may also see Spain's government formally request eurozone financial assistance.
Spain is expected to request up to 62bn euros (£50bn) to save its distressed banks.
European authorities had already agreed to provide up to 100bn (£80bn) euros ahead of assessments of the banks' needs.
The Italian leader is to hold talks with Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, French President Francois Hollande and Spain's Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy in the Italian capital.
In comments published in European newspapers, Mr Monti said that, without a credible plan, "the frustration of the public towards Europe would grow".
He said market attacks would target those who had failed to respect EU guidelines and would include "harassment of the weaker countries".
He spoke of the need for "ever more integration" for European economies to emerge in "good shape" from the debt crisis.
His comments echoed those of the head of the International Monetary Fund, Christine Lagarde, who said on Thursday that eurozone countries were undergoing "acute stress" and must tie their economies together much more closely if they wanted to tackle the crisis.
"The IMF believes that a determined and forceful move towards a complete European monetary union should be reaffirmed in order to restore faith in the system. Because as we see it at the moment, the viability of the European monetary system is questioned," Ms Lagarde said.
She also recommended that the eurozone help troubled banks directly and relax some austerity conditions for countries in trouble - ideas that have been resisted by Germany.
When asked what Germany would think of her proposals, Ms Lagarde replied: "We hope wisdom will prevail".
The BBC's Europe editor, Gavin Hewitt, says that while though no final decisions are expected after Friday's meeting, much attention will focus on how divided these European leaders are.
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