He spoke as European Union finance ministers discuss rules for guaranteeing all private savings _ after Ireland, Germany, Greece, Austria and Denmark alarmed other European neighbors by declaring separately that money held by ailing banks would be safe.

The EU has finally felt the sharp end of the financial market crisis in the last few weeks as a number of banks sought government rescue to stave off collapse when credit markets froze.

Lending worldwide barely budged Monday as investors waited for details on how the U.S. Treasury plans to buy up $700 billion of bad debt from major banks _ which would clear their books and help unfreeze borrowing.

Stocks in the United States, Europe and Asia spiraled downward, with the Dow falling below 10,000 for the first time since 2004.

Trichet appealed to "all actors on the stage to shoulder their responsibilities and be calm," saying many private credit holders may be overestimating real risks _ which "makes it very difficult for money markets to function."

European Union leaders also tried to soothe markets, assuring them they would take "all necessary measures" to keep the financial system stable.

That would include liquidity from the central banks, targeted measures for individual banks or a reinforcement of bank deposit guarantees, France's EU presidency said in a statement.

The 15 nations that share the euro currency also "agreed that we want to do all we can to avoid financial institutions of systematic importance from failing," said Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker after leading euro-zone economy talks late Monday.

"The states will guarantee that this will not happen," he said.

Dutch Finance Minister Wouter Bos said that all 27 EU finance ministers would Tuesday talk about setting out guidelines for how nations would rescue troubled banks.

Ireland's sudden move last week to guarantee savings held by six Irish lenders angered other nations _ particularly its closest neighbor Britain _ who feared money would flee their banks for safe havens abroad.

Under pressure from the EU's antitrust chief, Neelie Kroes, Ireland is now signaling that it will change its guarantee to allow other European banks active in the country to benefit from it.

Bos said some EU nations were pressing for wider guidelines to prevent a repeat of Ireland's move but they were still divided on what guarantees should cover.

"We are working toward a number of (rescue) principles to be respected by all EU nations," he told reporters. "It looks like we will be going to 100 percent government guarantee" for private savings held by banks. "But you must ask yourself if that is desirable."

A French official said "the heart of the debate is whether governments should guarantee private savings or all of the banks' debts." He added the latter would mean "rewarding a bank for taking excessive risks."

The European Commission is also trying to assure savers, saying it would propose raising the minimum amount of savings guaranteed in the EU above the current level of 20,000 euros ($27,268) and set new limits for how long people had to wait to withdraw all their money.

After the initial panic of last week when several banks teetered on the edge of collapse _ and sought government rescue _ EU nations are now trying to pull together.

Trichet insisted that Europe had shown in the last week _ with joint government bailouts of troubled banks Fortis NV and Dexia SA _ that they could coordinate and form a common response even though there are no EU-wide rules requiring all governments to act in concert.

He appeared angry at the suggestion that the EU was taking a scattered approach to market problems.

"Who can say we've done worse than the other side of the Atlantic?" he said. "There is no lack of coordination; there is a European spirit. We have different governments and they have different means of intervention."

On Saturday the leaders of Germany, France, Britain and Italy signaled they would stay away from the sort of massive bank bailout package passed by the U.S. Congress a day earlier.

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Associated Press writer Robert Wielaard contributed to this report.