Germany and France are "confident" to find common ground for the upcoming eurozone crisis summit, as the two countries' leaders are holding a last-minute meeting in Berlin and coordinating positions over the next Greek bailout package, officials said Wednesday.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel (R) welcomes France's President Nicolas Sarkozy before talks in Berlin, July 20, 2011. Merkel believesThursday's summit of euro zone leaders will agree on a new Greek bailout, while her talks with France's Nicolas Sarkozy later on Wednesday will help Europe find such a solution, an aide said.  (Xinhua/Reuters Photo)

The meeting was arranged by telephone between the two leaders on Tuesday, aiming at making final preparations for a crucial summit scheduled on Thursday, which sets addressing Greece's debt problems and rebuilding market confidence on top of its agenda.

"There is confidence on both sides that such a common line can be worked out this evening," Merkel's spokesman Steffen Seibert told reporters. "If this does not happen then we can't make progress in Europe."

He said the chancellor and Sarkozy are keeping close contact with other EU leaders in recent days over the Greece's debt woes, and Merkel was also "very confident" on reaching a "good result" in Thursday's summit.

Thursday's summit is expected to outline a new rescue plan for the debt-grappled Greece, which received its first 110-billion-euro (156 billion dollars) EU-IMF bailout last year, but failed to end the financial nightmare.

Heads of state of the 17-nation eurozone, the European Central Bank (ECB) President Jean-Claude Trichet and the new IMF chief Christine Lagarde are due to attend the meeting in Brussels.

VietNamNet/Xinhuanet