Prime Minister Gordon Brown is due to join fellow EU leaders in Brussels for another emergency summit on the economy amid fears national protectionism will scupper hopes of recovery.
A week ago he joined talks in Berlin which agreed tighter financial regulation in all financial sectors, central EU monitoring of banks and financial institutions and an early warning system to spot future economic storm clouds.
This weekend all 27 EU leaders are trying to head off protectionist instincts which are threatening co-operation and co-ordination of efforts to restore market confidence across Europe.
The summit is part of the build-up to the G20 meeting of world leaders which Mr Brown will host in London on April 2, and in a pre-summit letter to fellow leaders the Prime Minister warned: "We face the threat of a retreat into protectionism, with world trade forecast to contract this year for the first time since 1982.
"The London Summit on April 22 represents an opportunity to agree a new deal. The EU has an opportunity - and a responsibility - to lead.
"Only by working together will we deliver the EU and international recovery we need."
European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso also set out his stall before the meeting, warning in a letter to summit host, Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek, that state aid to bail out struggling sectors should not be used to reverse the EU's progress towards open, competitive cross-border markets.
He said: "One of our key messages should be the expression of our shared commitment to openness and a level playing field, both within the EU and globally. The EU needs open world markets, now more than ever if part of our recovery is to be export-led."
The results of the one-day informal summit will be fed into the discussions at another, formal, EU summit in mid-March.
The hope is that, by the time the G20 leaders, including US President Barack Obama, gather in London on April 2, a clear, united approach to countering world recession will be on the table.
