Berlin  - German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Thursday that she expects an honest assessment of the financial situation within Eastern Europe at a European Union (EU) summit meeting this weekend.

Merkel said that, as far as the EU member states are concerned, "we should be given an honest status of the situation," adding that this had not necessarily been the case at the EU's December summit.

The chancellor was speaking at a foreign press briefing where she spoke on a range of topics, including possible state support for the German GM-subsidiary Opel.

The comments came ahead of an extraordinary EU summit due Sunday in Brussels, at which the heads of all 27 EU member states are to discuss the global economic crisis.

The German chancellor said that, in December, "many Eastern European states said they didn't have a banking crisis." Merkel said she had warned at the time that eastern Europe would not remain untouched by the global economic downturn.

The crisis in Central and Eastern Europe is now threatening to undercut the gains achieved through the region's economic transformation from communism over the last 20 years.

Asked what help Germany could offer Eastern European economies, Merkel said, "the biggest form of solidarity, which has proved itself in this crisis, is the existence of the euro."

She added that Germany was in a precarious situation with regard to its eastern neighbours. "If we help too much, we're accused of being too forceful, but if we do too little it's not right either," the chancellor said.

"The time phase within which we can do the right thing is, at best, nano-seconds long," Merkel added.

Merkel also spoke out in favour of US President Barack Obama's demand that, once the crisis is over, people must focus on saving. "I though that was psychologically very interesting," the chancellor said. "I welcome it thoroughly," she added.

On the issue of state support for General Motors' German offshoot Opel and auto spare parts group Schaeffler/Conti, Merkel said the ailing manufacturers would first need to present viable plans safeguarding their survival.

It was important to establish the cause of the companies' difficulties since "you can't continually finance the wrong structures," the chancellor said.

Merkel said state guarantees were the most likely "bridge" the government would consider extending to either manufacturer.

Not all questions focused on the doom and gloom of the current financial crisis.

In light of two anniversaries this year - the 60th birthday of the German state and 20 years since the fall of the Berlin Wall - Merkel said it was noteworthy that post-World War II Germany had been reunited for a third of its existence.

The chancellor said her expectations for the country's reunification were surpassed by the attitudes of young people from former East Germany, who now demonstrate "urbane" qualities and an "inner confidence" akin to those in West Germany.

"There is no longer a division in society between those who have never been to Italy and therefore struggle to order an Italian meal with confidence, and those who learned to do so as a young child," the chancellor, of East German origin, said.

There was still some room for improvement in one area, Merkel noted.

"The west Germans are just starting to realise that German unity is an enrichment for them too," she said, adding that eastern cities such as Weimar and Dresden also belong to Germany's history. (dpa)