Sept. 29 (Bloomberg) -- French President Nicolas Sarkozy pledged to help French banks as the financial turmoil crossed the Atlantic to hit European institutions including Dexia SA.

``We have to support our banks,'' Sarkozy said today in a press conference in the coastal city of Marseille, France. ``The U.K., Belgium, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Germany are states that acted to guarantee the stability and the security of the financial systems in their countries and in Europe.''

Sarkozy said last week that French banks seemed able to overcome ``current difficulties,'' adding that France would protect consumers from suffering any loss stemming from a bank failure and guarantee the continuity of the country's financial system. The state would also step in to make sure that consumers and companies would keep having access to credit, he said.

The French leader, who currently holds the European Union rotating presidency, called a meeting next week between EU countries that also are members of the Group of Eight to discuss the market turmoil.

Germany, France, the U.K. and Italy, along with European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet and Luxembourg's Jean-Claude Juncker, who heads the group of euro-area finance ministers, will meet in Paris to prepare for the global summit on financial markets that Sarkozy called for during last week's United Nations meeting in New York.

Sarkozy and European Commission President Jose Barroso said today that several EU countries and EU regulators this weekend discussed ``very sensitive questions'' about the financial markets. They provided no further details on those talks.

`Under Trial'

The banking-industry turmoil ``puts the European financial sector under trial,'' Sarkozy said today, adding that ``it's good news'' that U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and congressional Democrats in Washington hammered out a consensus on spending up to $700 billion to shore up the financial industry.

Sarkozy will meet top executives of French banks and insurers tomorrow to discuss the global financial crisis and how it is affecting European institutions.

Finance Minister Christine Lagarde and Bank of France Governor Christian Noyer will attend the meeting at the Elysee presidential palace in Paris, Sarkozy's press office said in an e-mailed statement today.

Dexia fell as much as 34 percent in Brusselstrading after Le Figaro said the world's biggest lender to local governments may soon announce a plan to raise capital in a bid to reassure markets. Paris-based Caisse des Depots et Consignations is the Belgian bank's third-largest shareholder, with a stake of more than 11 percent.

``Dexia is a Belgian bank with Belgian capital and under Belgian supervision and the Belgian state has spoken; it will take its responsibility, it said, like it did for Fortis,'' Lagarde told reporters on the outskirts of Paris today. State- owned ``CDC will certainly take its responsibility as a shareholder alongside other shareholders.''

To contact the reporters on this story: Helene Fouquet in Marseille, France, at hfouquet1@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: September 29, 2008 08:55 EDT