ANGELA MERKEL AND Nicolas Sarkozy have announced their first bilateral meetings of 2012 in an attempt to smooth the way for eurozone reform.

The German chancellor and French president will hold talks in Berlin on January 9, ahead of a European Council meeting on January 30, the BBC reports.

Angela Merkel’s office said the leaders would use the meeting to “prepare for upcoming European appointments”. It is usual for Merkel and Sarkozy, whose countries account for a significant proportion of the euro-area economy, to meet with each other privately before wider summits.

The eurozone faces an ongoing crisis, with member countries due to repay around €157billion in debt in the first three months of the new year, the Economic Times reports.

Meanwhile, the UK-based Centre for Economics and Business Research has predicted with “60 per cent probability” that the eurozone will start to break up in 2012 – meaning at least one country will be forced to leave, according to the Daily Mail.

CEBR chief executive Professor Douglas McWilliams named Greece and Italy as the most likely candidates to separate from the eurozone.

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