EU leaders' summit set for delay

A meeting of European Union leaders due to take place on October 17 is likely to be postponed, EU sources said on Monday, with ongoing uncertainty over how Europe will shore up its banks and cope with Greece's debt mountain.

The meeting, which was set to discuss the economic crisis, is now likely to happen at a later date, one of the sources told Reuters. A second source said the delay was, in part, because a report of EU and IMF inspectors about Greece's progress in tackling its debt problems is still outstanding.

"Leaders want to be able to act on the results of the Troika report which would not have been ready in time for the original date," said one EU source. "We believe the postponement is more at the request of Paris rather than Berlin."

A third source said EU officials in charge of organising the meetings were calling diplomats to rearrange the date.

"They are calling around all of the delegations and checking if everyone is able to postpone the summit," he said.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy met in Berlin on Sunday and announced that they would agree measures to stabilise the euro zone, including recapitalising banks, by the end of October.