Jeremy Hobson: French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel met this weekend to talk about possible solutions to the European banking crisis, and they say they will come with a plan to bolster banks by the end of the month.

But it’ll cost them, as Caitlan Carroll reports now from Berlin.

Caitlan Carroll: Since the crisis began, France and Germany have each been asserting their own agenda. For its part, France wants its banks to have easier access to bailout funds. Germany, on the other hand, wants banks to take more write downs on the value of bad loans to countries like Greece.

Fabian Zuleeg is chief economist at the European Policy Center. He says Germany will probably have the last word because any bank rescue plan needs German money.

Fabian Zuleeg: In the end, the big issue is always does Germany support the whole package because without German support it can’t work.

Irwin Collier is an economics professor at the Freie Universitat in Berlin. He says that even though this crisis has been simmering for months, Germany and France are acting as though they still have time.

Irwin Collier: My real fear is that one might think the back is up against the wall but there is still a a lot of room between us and the back of the wall.

France and Germany plan to unveil a package of reforms before the G20 summit in about a month.

In Berlin, I’m Caitlan Carroll for Marketplace