Berlin  - German Chancellor Angela Merkel will avoid holding official talks with Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad when they meet at a Euro-Mediterranean summit in Paris at the weekend, officials said in Berlin Thursday.

The German government has long taken the view that Damascus is intervening "unconstructively" in Lebanon and demands that Syria formally recognize Lebanon.

Sunday's meeting in Paris is to establish the Union for the Mediterranean, a pet project of French President Nicolas Sarkozy. (dpa)