A rejuvenating UK-France summit?

Gordon Brown and Nicolas Sarkozy, with assembled ministers

By Laura Kuenssberg Political correspondent, BBC News, in Evian, France

"Mon ami!", "L'entente formidable au soleil", and friendly grasps of the shoulder - the words and the physical language of the Evian summit could hardly have been friendlier.

But the message, particularly from the British leader, was pretty grim.

The first stop on the summer summit circuit was in Evian les Bains - yes, the one with the famous water where generations of Europeans have come to have their spirits restored and rejuvenated.

No green shoots

Just what Gordon Brown might need perhaps. But he comes here with a pretty dire assessment on the economy.

Number 10 is using today, in reality a warm up event to the bigger G8 meeting starting on Wednesday in Italy, to start rolling out the prime minister's message.

He is warning that there is "no room for complacency" on the economy, warning that unemployment is continuing to grow, and trade to fall, pushing his message that the world is at a "pivotal point", and that continued action from governments is required to stem the downturn.

Both were talking tough, both making clear in their view, that the work to reform the global economy, after the shoring up of the financial institutions, is not done

It is a contrast to some hopes of early recovery, and feels like a change in tone from Number 10.

So there was no talk of green shoots here, even though the lavender scented gardens of the Hotel Royal in Evian are full of them.

When the PM and his counterpart met, along with a large cast of other British and French ministers, Gordon Brown got the strong and continued backing of Nicolas Sarkozy.

Both were talking tough, both making clear in their view, that the work to reform the global economy, after the shoring up of the financial institutions, is not done.

I asked the prime minister whether his grim warnings meant he thought the British economy would get worse before it gets better.

Harder line

He responded that he "wanted to point out to the people that more needs to be done", adding: "If we don't take more action, there will be no return to growth."

Neither he nor Mr Sarkozy are content to rest after the actions so far taken by the world's governments.

It was a trenchant message and it seems we can now expect them to be pushing their counterparts hard when they meet later in the week in Italy at the G8.

So what will they be trying to achieve?

They say they will work to encourage the G8 club of industrialised nations to get banks lending again; to take action on oil prices; to keep government spending going into economies rather than cutting it, and to act to stop a generation of young people joining the unemployment lines.

Mr Brown will tell Mr Sarkozy and other leaders later in the week, that the "world cannot stand by and let events take their course".

So there were words from both leaders about the strength of their commitment to save the world from its economic plight.

And along with that, staunch support from the French side over the treatment of British embassy staff in Tehran.

Mr Sarkozy appeared to announce that France would do "whatever Britain wanted" to help.

And the immigration minister Phil Woolas, also at the summit, will leave with a deal - £15m towards French border controls at the English channel in return for a promise from France to take a harder line on the deportation of illegal immigrants who want to come to the UK.

But in the main, this summit is the rehearsal for the main event later in the week, the G8 summit in L'Aquila.

Gordon Brown hopes again he can appear in control of events on the world economic stage in a manner reminiscent of the G20 in London in April.

But since then, the PM's reputation has taken a domestic hammering.

The rest of the G8 leadership might not be as willing as Mr Sarkozy to lavish him with praise. So it is far from inevitable that he can this week to use the Evian and Italian summits to refresh his image.

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