Brussels - The head of the European Commission, Jose Manuel Barroso, on Thursday hailed the US Senate's approval of a 700-billion-dollar rescue plan for the financial sector, calling the vote a "step in the right direction."

Barroso is "delighted by the adoption of the Paulson plan," which is a "step in the right direction," his spokesman, Johannes Laitenberger, told journalists in Brussels.

"We need to inject confidence into the markets at the moment ... We hope that other steps will follow," Laitenberger said.

On Thursday evening Barroso is set to hold informal talks with representatives of the European Financial Services Round Table, a group which brings together 19 of Europe's biggest banks and insurers, including ING, Deutsche Bank, UBS, Credit Agricole and RBS.

That meeting comes ahead of a crisis meeting in Paris on Saturday of the leaders of the European Union's four biggest economies - Britain, France, Germany and Italy - with the heads of the commission, European Central Bank and committee of countries which use the euro.

The Paris meeting is expected to lay the foundations for a major international summit on the current financial crisis. French President Nicolas Sarkozy proposed the summit on September 23, and said on Monday that it should be convened "within weeks."

The US Senate late on Wednesday approved a revised version of the controversial bail-out plan for the financial sector by
74 votes to 25. The lower House of Representatives, which rejected an earlier plan on Monday, is to debate the new version on Friday. (dpa)