David Cameron will meet EU President Herman van Rompuy Monday as the British prime minister battles to stop Jean-Claude Juncker from becoming head of the European Commission, Downing Street said Friday.

Juncker -- who is supported by German Chancellor Angela Merkel and the European People's Party, the European Parliament's largest grouping -- looks on course to be confirmed as successor to Jose Manuel Barroso as head of the powerful EU executive.

A bitter row over the top EU job escalated Thursday after German Chancellor Angela Merkel and British Prime Minister David Cameron had what officials called "candid" talks on the hotly debated issue.

London objects to Merkel's favored candidate to become the next European Commission chief, former Luxembourg premier Jean-Claude Juncker, on the grounds that he supports further political union in the 28-member bloc.

Luxembourg's Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker says he will try to form a new government after his party took a clear lead in snap elections, but support for Europe's longest-serving leader has slipped.

Official results from Sunday's polls showed that his conservative Christian Social People's Party (CSV) led the field with 33.7 percent of the vote -- against 38 percent four years ago.

Leafy well-heeled Luxembourg, the wealthiest European Union nation per capita, is desperately seeking a new economic model as it prepares to shed banking secrecy.

The world's 13th biggest financial center and the second international investment hub after the United States, Luxembourg harvested almost half of its fiscal revenue from the financial sector before the crisis hit in 2008.

Police have smashed a gang which used fake bomb vests in the kidnapping of 21 businessmen in France and Luxembourg to raise over three million euros in ransom, Spanish police, which took part in the operation, said Sunday.

Eight suspects, including the ring's suspected leader who had escaped from a French jail last year, were detained in Spain and another eight were arrested in France, Spanish police said in a statement.

Faced with growing pressure over tax evasion, Luxembourg confirmed Wednesday it would implement rules on the automatic exchange of bank account information with its EU partners from 2015.

"We can introduce the automatic exchange of (bank account) information without any danger from January 2015," Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker said, adding that the country's important financial services sector was ready for the change.

The Grand Duchy of Lu untry tinier than Rhode Island, the smallest U.S. state, and it would fit inside Germany, its neighbor to the east, 138 times with room to spare. It won no medals at the 2012 London Olympics — in fact it hasn't won a medal at the summer Games since 1952.

But this week is Luxembourg's turn to shine. Prince Guillaume, the heir to the throne — the grand duke-to-be — will marry Belgian Countess Stephanie de Lannoy. It will be a two-day affair, including fireworks, concerts, a gala dinner at the grand ducal palace, and two marriages between the betrothed — a civil wedding Friday afternoon and a religious ceremony Saturday morning.

Leaders from the 17 countries that share the embattled euro sealed a dramatic deal Friday to allow emergency measures to aid crisis-hit Italy and Spain, as well as provide billions to boost the economy.

Following tense talks that stretched into the early hours, EU president Herman Van Rompuy told reporters a "real breakthrough" had been struck to calm financial markets and reshape the Eurozone to prevent the crisis recurring.

Germany sees no grounds to speculate on a possible military intervention in Syria, its foreign minister said Wednesday, a day after France's president said armed force was not ruled out.

"From the federal government's point of view, there is no reason to speculate over military options," Guido Westerwelle was quoted as saying in an interview to appear in Thursday's issue of the Die Welt daily.

Eurozone finance ministers turned to the IMF for more help to keep the monetary union together late Tuesday after they missed their goal of boosting their own bailout fund to one trillion Euros.

With fears rising that Italy will need a bailout after its borrowing costs soared to record heights, ministers scrambled to tame a debt crisis threatening to break apart the 17-nation Eurozone.