Toulon, France - The economic turmoil provoked by crises in the American sub-prime and finance markets has put an end to the free- market economy, French President Nicolas Sarkozy said Thursday in the southern French city of Toulon.

"Laissez-faire is finished, the all-powerful market that is always right, that's finished," Sarkozy said in a widely anticipated speech, his first in France on the economic crisis.

Paris - European aerospace group EADS said Thursday that the first flight of its new A400M multi-purpose military transport plane has been postponed "because of the unavailability of the propulsion system."

The postponement is another blow for EADS, which has already lost billions of euros because of delays to its A380 superjumbo and A350XWB aircraft.

Barbara Kracht, a spokeswoman for EADS subsidiary Airbus, which is building the A400M, told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa that it was too early to speculate about how long the setback would delay delivery of the plane.

Paris  - The European Union plans to send more than 300 observers to Georgia, substantially more than had been foreseen, a French foreign ministry spokesman said on Wednesday.

Asked during an electronic press conference about media reports that the mission could comprise 340 observers, instead of the 200 originally called for, Frederic Bouillon said, "We confirm that the EU observation mission in Georgia could comprise 300 observers, to which must be added the logistical support personnel."

Brussels - France intends to call an emergency summit of the world's leading economic powers before the end of the year to respond to the global financial crisis, French Europe Minister Jean-Pierre Jouyet confirmed Wednesday.

France, the current holder of the EU's rotating presidency, "wants to summon a meeting based on the Group of Eight (leading industrialized nations) before the end of the year, with one topic the regulation of financial markets," Jouyet told the European Parliament.

"We need new, common rules on an international level for a better control of financial markets," he said.

Czech energy firm CEZ and Electrabel, a unit of French-based GDF Suez, won contracts to build two coal-fired power plants in Romania, the government said Wednesday.

Each contract is worth up to 400 million euros (590 million dollars), Economy Minister Varujan Vosganian said.

The 400-megawatt units in eastern Romania will be built at two existing power plants in cooperation with state-owned utility Termoelectrica SA.

Electrabel was contracted to build a unit at Borzesti and CEZ was tapped for one at Galati, also the site of Romania's biggest steelworks.

Paris - French energy giant Electricite de France (EDF) is to purchase British Energy Group after both boards agreed on a price, EDF said Wednesday in a statement.

According to the agreed deal, EDF will pay 12.5 billion pounds (15.6 billion euros, or 22.9 billion dollars) for the group, which owns eight of Britain's 10 nuclear power reactors.

The offer, equal to 774 pence per share of British Energy, represents a premium of more than 35 per cent over its closing middle price on March 14, when talks began between the two companies, and of nearly 7 per cent over Tuesday's closing middle price.