Time to fix Eurozone crisis - Obama

US: President Barack Obama told top European officials Monday they must act now, with decisive force, to fix the debt crisis threatening to consume the eurozone and damage the fragile US recovery.

Obama said that the United States would do its part to help resolve the situation, but did not specify any action over and above its intense diplomatic engagement and current financing levels for the International Monetary Fund. "This is of huge importance to our own economy," Obama said, after meeting European Council President Herman Van Rompuy, European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso and EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton.

"I communicated to them that the United States stands ready to do our part to help them resolve this issue," he said, adding that it would be tougher for his administration to create jobs at home if European markets were contracting.

While Obama was diplomatic in public, there were signs of a more robust attitude inside the talks on eurozone risks, which aides fear could deepen US economic woes already threatening his 2012 reelection bid."The president has made clear repeatedly and he did so today, that he would like to see bolder, quicker, more decisive action by European leaders," said William Kennard, US ambassador to the European Union. "We have gotten into detail in private conversation about what that might entail," he said. Washington, Tuesday, AFP