By John Irish

PARIS (Reuters) - The French and German leaders meet on Monday in Paris for annual talks in which they will seek further economic coordination in the crisis-hit European Union and discuss the escalating violence in Syria.

Chancellor Angela Merkel, who is openly backing President Nicolas Sarkozy in April's presidential election, will also give a joint interview with Sarkozy to French and German television networks in the evening.

"The meeting will be dedicated to deepening Franco-German cooperation in all fields ... and notably fiscal convergence," the French presidency said in a statement.

The German chancellor is seen in France as a trustworthy leader capable of dealing with the euro zone debt crisis, and so could boost Sarkozy's credibility on economic issues.

French Finance Minister Francois Baroin said Merkel's visit, which takes place as Greece struggles to avoid a chaotic debt default that would have repercussions across Europe, was to ensure the bloc's main drivers were on the same page.

"As we are the two main contributors (to the euro zone) if you don't have an accord between France and Germany you can be sure not only of Europe's slow descent in international competition, but into chaos," he told Europe 1 radio.

"No agreement between the two means no engine."

German government officials said the meeting would focus on corporate tax harmonisation, one aspect of Berlin and Paris' goal to drive economic coordination within the EU.

The meeting would produce a "green paper" - intended to stimulate debate on the subject within the European Union - that aims to make it easier for small- and mid-sized companies to work across borders. Continued...