(BRUSSELS) - European Union leaders pushed Wednesday for rapid moves to overhaul global finance, demanding a world summit be convened for a complete rethink of the system in the wake of the banking crisis.

Announcing that all 27 of the EU's leaders were behind measures taken by members of the single currency eurozone to safeguard banks, French President Nicolas Sarkozy said there was also a unanimous demand for a world summit to be held by the end of the year on reforming global financial institutions.

"Everyone agrees on the need for a global summit soon," said Sarkozy whose country currently holds the revolving EU presidency.

"We want this summit to take place before the end of the year and we think that November is a good time," he added.

Sarkozy had earlier told his peers that the turmoil in the financial system, which has seen stock exchanges plummet in recent weeks, was "one crisis too many".

"The system must be completely overhauled, an overhaul that must be global," he said.

"A new capitalism is needed, based on values which put finance at the service of business and citizens, and not vice versa."

The call from Sarkozy, who is to travel to the United States this weekend for talks with President George W. Bush on the recent turmoil, were echoed by British Prime Minister Gordon Brown who said that a crisis was being witnessed "that has the potential to affect every country around the world."

"The challenge for the international community is to stabilise current market conditions, mitigate and manage the risk of contagion to other parts of the globe and reform the international financial system for the future," Brown added, according to a copy of a speech that was delivered behind closed doors.

Brown said in particular that an "early warning system" needed to be set up to avoid a repeat of the recent turmoil and that the International Monetary Fund needed to be made "fit for purpose."

Buoyed by the initial positive reaction of markets to bank rescue packages in the eurozone, leaders gathered in Brussels hoped it would mark the start of a more coordinated approach to a crisis many say stems from the United States.

The eurozone leaders last weekend agreed a comprehensive package designed to shore up banks, including making more than a trillion euros available for interbank loans.

Sarkozy said that there had been overwhelming support for the package from the other EU leaders who do not use the euro.

"The whole of Europe, without exception, approves the measures adopted on Sunday in Paris," he said.

However he added that the EU nations have still not reached a definitive agreement on the text which contains the measures, amid some reservations over state intervention from the Czech government.

Speaking alongside Sarkozy, EU Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso said it was essential that Europe and the United States work in tandem to address the root causes of the banking crisis.

"Europe is indispensable for a global response but a European response alone is not enough," he said.

The summit began amid the release of more grim economic data from the EU's two biggest economies with unemployment in Britain jumping to an eight-year high of 5.7 percent while Chancellor Angela Merkel said Germany's economy was heading for a slowdown, albeit a transitory one.

Before the financial crisis reared its head, EU leaders were to have focused at the summit on Europe's efforts to tackle climate change.

As the summit evolved, splits over climate change goals widened with first Poland and then Italy threatening to veto plans to tackle the issue if attempts were made to impose a deal.

Last year the European Union adopted the target of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 20 percent by 2020 from 1990 levels.

European Council

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