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Europe Prepares for Dressing Down at G8 –Courtesy of the VOA

Henry Ridgwell

May 16, 2012

It is Europe’s __________ members, notably France and Germany, who will face the __________ of fellow leaders at Camp David.

New French President Francois Hollande arrived in Berlin under stormy skies Tuesday, with the continent seemingly __________ further into economic crisis.

Earlier, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said the G8 meeting was__________. Togather with the industrialized nations and the G8 is exactly the right framework, we must work __________ than ever to get rid of the high debt levels. This will be the foundation for __________ and__________growth.

__________economies across southern Europe have prompted calls for a change of focus from __________to growth.

To add to its economic meltdown, Greece is facing a __________crisis.  Elections __________ to produce a majority for any one party or a coalition, so the country is going back to the polls next month.

G8 leaders outside Europe will have a simple message for the eurozone, says Stephanie Rickard of the London School of Economics. “I think they are going to say, ‘Hey, eurozone leaders, you need to solve this problem.’  I think they are going to say this is not a U.S. issue, this is not a Canadian issue, this is really a __________ issue and Europe needs to clean house,” she said.

EU leaders have looked to China’s__________ economy for help in pulling the eurozone out of its debt mire.  But Beijing will not come to the rescue, says Professor Steve Tsang of the China Policy Institute at Nottingham University.

“The Chinese are affected by, too. But the Chinese government has absolutely __________ __________ to bail out the eurozone. From their perspective, there is no reason why the __________ Chinese should put their very hard-earned cash to bail out the very __________ and in some ways __________ Europeans.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin is not attending the meeting.  Moscow says he has__________affairs to deal with. But he is sending his prime minister.

One new face at the G8, Francois Hollande, faces a baptism of fire on the world stage.

Enroute to Berlin, the French presidential plane was hit by__________, forcing it to return back.

Mr. Hollande will hope for better omens on his second major foreign trip in just his first week of presidency.