The Hill News

President Obama pledged to keep working with the European Union to solve the debt crisis and resolve "the situation in Greece" after a meeting with French President Nicolas Sarkozy on Wednesday in Cannes.

"The United States will continue to be a partner with the Europeans to resolve these challenges," Obama said in a joint statement released by the two leaders.

Obama is in Cannes for the G20 summit this week, where he was expected to urge quick action on the bailout plan agreed to by European leaders last month.

However, shortly before Obama's trip, Greek Prime Minister George Papendreou balked, announcing he would allow his country to vote on whether or not to reject the bailout plan.

"The most important aspect of our task over the next two days is to resolve the financial crisis here in Europe," Obama said. Obama has blamed the debt crisis in Europe, in part, for having an influence on the economic situation in the U.S., putting a heavy emphas! is on the health of the global economy.

"Central to our discussions at the G20 is how do we achieve greater global growth and put people back to work. That means we’re going to have to resolve the situation here in Europe," Obama said in a later statement after meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

"We need the leadership of Barack Obama," Sarkozy said. "I wish to pay tribute to the United States for understanding about all the issues we’ll be discussing over the next 48 hours, and in particular, the issue of the Greek crisis -- the difficulty that the euro is facing, the need to be hand-in-glove with the United States on the language of the final communiqué."