German Chancellor Angela Merkel's meeting with French PresidentNicolas Sarkozy today comes as investors clamor for indicationsthat they will do more to stamp out the euro area's debt crisis astheir economies sputter.

After a July 21 European Union agreement to bolster the region'srescue fund failed to calm markets, calls are growing for theleaders to begin discussing joint borrowing or a mutual guaranteeamong the 17 euro states, policies that both countries haverejected until now. While not on the agenda, the issue willprobably come up at a joint press briefing scheduled for 6:30 p.m.Paris time after the talks.

Merkel and Sarkozy may announce proposals that “go in thedirection” of joint euro-area bonds, Peter Bofinger, an economicadviser to the German government, said in an interview today onBloomberg Television. “They cannot end this day empty handed. Ithink they have to deliver something.”