Italy's Prime Minister said on Friday there was talk of suspending markets but later played down the idea that this was a serious policy suggestion.
Asked what European Union leaders might discuss if they meet in Paris this Sunday, Silvio Berlusconi told a news conference: "There is talk of suspending markets for the time needed to rewrite (international finance) rules."
After the press conference was over and reporters asked for more details, he replied: "No, no, no. It was a pure hypothesis like when you say: 'let's suspend Basel 2' or 'let's do another Bretton Woods'. It was a hypothesis that was never mooted by any leader, least of all me."
Berlusconi said European Union leaders would meet on Sunday in Paris to discuss the financial crisis and they could ask for an emergency Group of Eight summit. In Paris, French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who holds the rotating EU presidency, said he was considering calling such a meeting but had not yet decided.