"Yes, we need convergence criteria. There's no question of that. The Treaty exists, so there's no question of starting a discussion of it now," he told a news conference.

"But in the future, when the crisis is over, should we look and see what we have learnt from the crisis ... to see whether we should integrate new criteria," he said.

EAGER TO JOIN

Hungarian Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany said Sarkozy's views on accelerated euro zone entry procedures were close to his own.

"It is in Europe's interest to bring everyone into the euro zone. We consider his (Sarkozy) remarks as support of our common interest to enlarge the euro zone as fast as possible," he said.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said that while the current criteria for joining the euro should be observed, there could be a faster way of bringing candidates into ERM2 itself.

"There are some (countries) that want to get into the ERM2 (quicker). That we can think about," Merkel said.

"But the treaties cannot simply be changed, so let's stick with what we have got," she said.

"I didn't speak about shortening the period (in ERM2). But we should look at countries that want to join the ERM2 quickly to see if they meet the criteria," she added.