Geithner to visit Europe for debt crisis talks

(WASHINGTON) - US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner will travel to Europe next week for talks with authorities focused on fighting the eurozone debt crisis, the Treasury Department said Friday.

Geithner "will travel to Europe December 6-8, 2011, for discussions with his counterparts on their efforts to reinforce the institutions of the euro area," the department said in a statement.

Geithner's trip comes as Europe grapples with a spreading debt crisis and ahead of the European Union summit which starts with a working dinner Thursday and continues through Friday.

The US Treasury chief is slated to arrive Tuesday in Frankfurt for meetings with European Central Bank president Mario Draghi and the head of Germany's Bundesbank, Jens Weidmann.

He will travel to Berlin for a meeting in the afternoon with German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schauble.

On Wednesday, Geithner will be in Paris to meet with French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Finance Minister Francois Baroin. He will then travel to Marseille, France, for a bilateral meeting with Spain's Prime Minister-elect Mariano Rajoy.

Geithner will visit Milan on Thursday for a meeting with the Italian prime minister and finance chief, Mario Monti.

He is to return to Washington Thursday, the statement said.

Geithner participated in a meeting of EU finance ministers in Poland in September amid growing concern that the debt crisis slamming eurozone periphery countries such as Greece would affect the core economies and even lead to the breakup of the 17-nation single currency region.

The lack of speed at moving forward a resolution to the eurozone crisis has sparked frustration in the United States, with President Barack Obama repeatedly urging Europeans to take action.