(BRUSSELS) - European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso said Sunday that European governments need "unprecedented" cooperation to find a way out of the financial crisis.

"The commission has long called for deeper economic policy coordination within the euro area. We now need an unprecedented level of coordination to deal with this unprecedented crisis," Barroso said in a statement ahead of a summit of 15 European nations.

The Paris summit was seen as a last chance to hammer out a coordinated bank rescue package before panic-stricken stock markets reopen on Monday.

"I am very hopeful that we will take an important step forward today by agreeing a clear response for the euro area to the current crisis," Barroso said.

"We must show European citizens and the markets Europe's capacity and determination to act in concert."

Barroso said the Paris summit of eurozone countries should take its lead from a G7 action plan announced earlier in the weekend.

"We need to build on what G7 finance ministers decided with a more detailed programme at European level.

"That is the result I want from today and from this week's European Council. I believe we can achieve it," he said, referring to a EU summit later this week.

Two weeks after the collapse of Lehman Brothers and other US firms set off a worldwide shares crash, governments around the world are taking desperate measures to try and get credit flowing, raise capital and reassure savers.

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