Demonstrators camping out in front of the ECB in Frankfurt on Wednesday morning.
UPDATE 5: The gathering has broken up with nobody speaking to the press. Lagarde left first, followed by Sarkozy. The EU’s Barroso, Van Rompuy and Rehn then left together. Merkel exited by the back door.
UPDATE 4: The meeting is expected to break up shortly so Trichet and Draghi can attend an 8pm concert in their honour.
UPDATE 3: Ralph Atkins, our man in Frankfurt, reports the meeting of leaders is now underway at the Alte Oper, Frankfurt’s concert hall.
UPDATE 2: European officials are now saying that Nicolas Sarkozy will also be flying to Frankfurt to meet with his counterparts, after the arrival of his new daughter.
UPDATE: Our Frankfurt bureau chief, Ralph Atkins, reports that IMF cheif Christine Lagarde is also in attendance.
If anyone is looking for where deals on the highly-anticipated Sunday summit might be struck today, they may want to cast an eye towards Frankfurt.
Several of the European Union’s big hitters will be in Germany’s financial capital for a leaving celebration for Jean-Claude Trichet, who departs from the helm of the European Central Bank at the end of the month.
In addition to Trichet and his successor, Mario Draghi, officials said German chancellor Angela Merkel will be in attendance, as will all Brussels’ major economic decision-makers: José Manuel Barroso, the European Commisison president; Herman Van Rompuy, chair of the Sunday summit as head of the European Council; and Olli Rehn, the Commission’s economic chief.
The only prime actor to be absent will be French president Nicolas Sarkozy, who will is expected to be at the bedside of his wife Carla. According to French media reports, Carla Bruni-Sarkozy was checked into the Clinique de la Muette hospital, presumably to give birth to the couple’s first baby.
Across the globe: Gideon Rachman and his FT colleagues debate international affairs on