Summit may be most crucial since EU founding: IIF chief

BERLIN (Reuters) - Charles Dallara, managing director of the Institute of International Finance (IIF) and a key negotiator in the restructuring of Greece's debt, said the European Union was facing possibly its most important summit since its founding.

EU leaders meet in Brussels on Thursday and Friday to discuss proposals for a banking and fiscal union amid mounting alarm in financial markets over the euro zone crisis.

"Not only the future of the euro (but also) the future of Europe is at stake... (The summit) is perhaps the most important since the founding of the European Union," Dallara told German weekly Die Zeit, according to a preview of his comments ahead of Thursday's publication.

"This is about winning back the confidence of long-term oriented investors such as pension funds and insurance companies - and I fear that they will be convinced only by comprehensive solutions."

Dallara was involved in the protracted talks on the Greek debt restructuring, where the IIF represented private sector creditors.

(Writing by Gareth Jones)