A series of emergency meetings on the eurozone’s sovereign-debt crisis is under way in Brussels tonight.

George Papandreou, the prime minister of Greece, has begun talks with José Manuel Barroso, the president of the European Commission.

The two men will later tonight meet Nicolas Sarkozy, France’s president, Angela Merkel, Germany’s chancellor, and Herman Van Rompuy, the president of the European Council.

Diplomats suggest that Silvio Berlusconi and José Luis Zapatero, the prime ministers of Italy and Spain, will also join the meeting.

Tonight’s crisis talks follow a day of hectic diplomacy in Brussels, starting with a meeting of national finance ministers from the EU’s 27 member states. That meeting has now ended. Ministers of the 17 eurozone states have just started an unplanned meeting. 

Eurozone finance ministers also held talks last night.

National leaders will hold a crisis summit tomorrow morning, followed by a eurozone summit in the afternoon.