European Union (EU) member states should act together in response to the current economic crisis, EU lawmakers and officials said on Tuesday.

"Dealing with the effects of the global crisis is the most important task we have ... everyone must be part of the solution. We are all in the same boat," Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek, whose country holds the EU rotating presidency, told the European Parliament in Brussels.

Topolanek said that in order to ensure coordination among the 27 EU member states, an informal meeting of EU leaders scheduled on March 1 is crucial.

"The current crisis is, to a large extent, a crisis of confidence: it has a major political dimension," he said, adding the solution to the crisis "is also a matter of politicians agreeing on common priorities."

Topolanek set out his priorities for the informal summit, which included "clearing up toxic assets" and "ensuring banks resume lending to firms and households."

EU finance ministers agreed earlier this month to coordinate on how to deal with toxic assets, which soured due to potential losses from securitized debt based on bad loans such as US subprime mortgages.

They also encouraged financial institutions to increase lending to the real economy.

In an apparent criticism of France, Topolanek denounced protectionism and nationalism in the EU.

"Europe is facing protectionism, populism, a lack of solidarity, finger pointing, punishing the innocent and rewarding the unnecessary," he said.

"Are we really all in the same boat or do we have different decks? Do we have a first class deck, a second class deck and a third class deck? There are those who say we are on the Titanic," he added.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy had irritated Prague by sayingin a TV interview earlier this month that French carmakers receiving state aid should keep production in France and consider relocating their plants in the Czech Republic back to France.

Such unilateral resort to protectionist measures risks pulling the EU apart in the fight against the economic crisis, analysts warned.

Lubomir Zaoralek, a member of the Czech Chamber of Deputies who led a panel discussion in the joint session with the European Parliament, said the current crisis represents a serious test for Europe.

"Only a united and strong Europe can respond effectively to this crisis," he said. "We need strong European leadership" to fight the economic slowdown.

Hans-Gert Pottering, president of the European Parliament, warned protectionist measures taken by individual member states could annihilate the advantages of the European single market and create "the foundations for a disaster."

The EU must "act together and find common answers" to the crisis, he said.

Pottering also expressed his support for the euro, the single currency shared by 16 EU member states. He said without the euro, the European economy would be in much greater trouble.

"Everything we can do to maintain the stability of the European currency" has to be done, he said.