"We have a common economic area, a common currency," said Fillon, speaking after a meeting of French ministers in charge of economic issues, adding that this meant coordination is "indispensable".
"What we need is to propose a method so that all European countries can build a response," he added.
Last week, the EU's statistical agency Eurostat published figures revealing a 0.2% contraction of the eurozone economy in the second quarter of 2008 – a first since 1995.
The question now is whether this scenario will continue in the next quarter, throwing the continent into recession.
French Economy Minister Christine Lagarde pointed out that in France, "one should not expect a good third quarter as the factors that weighed down in the second quarter remained present in June and in part of the month of July". But she was more optimistic regarding the prospects in the last quarter.
The EU's largest economy, Germany, which up till now had succeeded in maintaining a buoyant economy, also felt the pain in the second quarter, shrinking by 0.5%.
EU officials have thus far refrained from terming the situation as a recession, although a Commission spokeswoman acknowledged that "the signs are not very good for the future," according to the AFP.
Fillon announced that French Economy Minister Christine Lagarde would present plans for an EU response to French President Nicolas Sarkozy and that these would then be put to EU finance ministers in Nice on 12-13 September.
But the prime minister ruled out economic stimulus plans, saying that the injection of public funds – as carried out in Spain last Thursday (14 August), with the government approving €20 billion in new financing for home-buyers and small businesses – would "serve no purpose".
Such an "artificial relaunch of the economy" would also be unfeasible considering the country's current budgetary situation, continued Fillon, who said his government would be sticking to its target of maintaining a budget deficit of 2.5% of GDP this year – with public expenditure cuts if necessary.
But experts predict that in the current economic context, France's public deficit could actually widen to close to 3% of GDP.
