The European Union (EU) on Friday welcomed the adoption of 700-billion-dollar plan by the U.S. government to bail out troubled banks in the wide-spreading financial crisis.

"I welcome the vote of the U.S. House of Representatives. By approving the Troubled Asset Relief Program, the U.S. legislators have shown responsibility," European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said in a statement late Friday.

Barroso said the EU has taken its responsibilities throughout the financial turmoil and would continue to do so.

The financial crisis, which originated in the U.S., is taking its toll on Europe recently, with several EU governments forced to inject billions of euros to save troubled banks.

Barroso said the EU would engage with other international partners to cooperate in the most effective way.

Leaders from France, Germany, Britain and Italy, as well as Barroso, European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet and Eurogroup Chairman Jean Claude Juncker, are scheduled to have an emergency meeting on the financial crisis in Paris Saturday.

The French government said the mini EU summit is designed to coordinate positions of the EU members of the Group of Eight (G-8) - - France, Germany, Britain and Italy -- on broader talks on the financial crisis with other G-8 members.

(Xinhua News Agency October 4, 2008)