Facing economic and political pressures at home, President Barack Obama and leaders of Germany, France, Canada, Italy, Great Britain, Russia, and Japan were huddling in the casual setting of Camp David’s Laurel Lodge looking to build consensus even though a decisive plan of action seemed out of reach at this point.

The G-8 session here in this secure presidential compound nestled in Maryland’s Catoctin Mountains sets the stage for a far more consequential European summit next week where eurozone members hope to come together on specific steps to fight rising debt while spurring a recovery.

Obama established the tone for the G-8 Friday after meeting with just-elected French President Francois Hollande, declaring that the aim of the summit is to promote both fiscal consolidation and a “strong growth agenda.”

“President Hollande and I agree that this is an issue of extraordinary importance not only to the people of Europe but also to the world economy,” Obama told reporters following the meeting.

In a hint of the pressures facing the leaders, Obama greeted German Chancellor Angela Merkel to Camp David Friday at dusk, asking her how she was. Merkel, facing resistance over her austerity push, merely shrugged.

“Well, you have a few things on your mind,” Obama said sympathetically.

A central economic topic, though hardly the only one confronting Europe, is the fate of Greece which is facing the most acute financial crisis of the eurozone and is set to hold elections June 17 to end political deadlock. At issue is whether Greece abandons the euro to escape austerity measures.

Hollande, speaking with Obama at his side Friday, said: “We share the same views, the fact that Greece must stay in the eurozone and that all of us must do what we can to that effect.”

Lowering expectations for the G-8, U.S. National Security Adviser Tom Donilon said: “The leaders I think will focus on specifics and specific concepts and ideas for growth and jobs. But I would also point out that the ultimate decisions on that would be decisions taken in the eurozone.”

Also on the agenda is energy as the world looks to the oil markets in advance of scheduled sanctions on Iranian oil exports. While oil prices have been falling, major oil importing countries, including the U.S., are keeping a wary eye on prices and keeping open the possibility of tapping their own oil reserves.

For Obama, Europe’s fate is critical to his own political survival. An economic recession that spreads to the U.S. could damage an already slow recovery and boost the argument by his Republican challenger, Mitt Romney, that the United States economy needs new leadership.

There is a get-acquainted aspect to the session as well. The Camp David gathering, the largest collection of foreign leaders ever at the presidential retreat, is the first G-8 meeting for Hollande, for Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti and for Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda. In what has been widely viewed as a snub, Russian President Vladimir Putin is skipping the G-8, sending Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev in his place.

The meeting comes at a turning point in Europe, marked by elections in France and Greece that signaled defiance toward the fiscal austerity measures that Merkel has pushed for the most indebted eurozone countries. European countries are straining under high borrowing rates. The drastic cuts in spending and government layoffs were designed to address massive national debts but they have also caused short-term economic distress and joblessness.

On Friday, Spain’s central bank announced that the level of bad loans on the books of Spanish banks was at an 18-year high, fueling concerns about the financial sector in the eurozone’s fourth-largest economy.

The emphasis on economic growth has been welcomed by Obama, who has long argued that the stimulative steps he took in 2009 put the U.S. on the road to recovery.

“Europe is still in a difficult state,” Obama told donors in Seattle last week, “partly because they didn’t take some of the decisive steps that we took early on in this recession.”

To what degree the Europeans, and Merkel in particular, agree remains to be seen.

“With Hollande coming into play here, there is going to be a lot of pressure on Germany, not just from Hollande and Obama, but also some of the other countries — Italy and UK — some pressure for Germany to push more toward growth within Europe because they have to get them on board,” said Jeffrey Bergstrand, a former federal reserve economist and now an expert on international finance at the University of Notre Dame.

U.S. officials have been encouraged by recent discussions in Europe to ease up some belt-tightening so that spending cuts aren’t as deep or as swift and to increase spending on public works projects like roads and schools in weaker parts of Europe. They also point to Germany’s recent decision to negotiate higher public sector wages, a move they say could have a positive ripple effect on demand.

Merkel herself has made conciliatory gestures, saying in a television interview this week that she was open to helping stimulate the Greek economy provided Greece honored pledges to shrink its debt.

To Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, in a bright blue jacket: “Dmitry, good to see you my friend, How are you?”

Medvedev: “Fine, Barack, not so bad.”

Medvedev nodded at Laurel lodge and joked: “This is my new place.”

To German Chancellor Angela Merkel: “Angela! … How have you been?”

Merkel, faced with rebellions in Europe over austerity measures she has pushed, shrugged.

Obama: “Well, you have a few things on your mind.”

All the guests but new French President Francois Hollande dressed casually, with open collars and blazers.

“Francois, we said you could take off the tie,” Obama said, ribbing him.

Hollande smiled with a look of protest: “For my press…”

Obama responded: “For your press, you must look good.”

President Barack Obama, an infrequent visitor, is putting the presidential hideaway on full display for this weekend’s summit of the Group of Eight industrial nations, the largest gathering of foreign leaders ever to assemble there. Arriving Friday, the leaders will stroll the camp’s leafy paths and bed down in the 11 residential cabins. Four African leaders will join them for lunch Saturday.

More than 50 heads of state have visited Camp David over the past seven decades. But this weekend’s G-8 meeting represents the first time more than two foreign leaders have gathered there.

About 1,800 feet above sea level, the camp occupies at least 125 acres, is protected by Marines and though nestled in the Catoctin Mountains, it is incongruously part of the Navy’s budget. A short drive from the town of Thurmont in northern Maryland, the compound is not marked by road signs and is ringed by imposing security fences. Within its confines, presidents and their guests can enjoy an abbreviated game of golf, play tennis, bowl, swim in the heated pool, even shoot skeet.

In choosing Camp David for the G-8 talks, Obama made an explicit decision to separate those economic discussions from the NATO summit that will immediately follow in Chicago, offering two distinct venues for each gathering — one tranquil and remote and the other boisterous and highly public.

“Chicago … is already going crazy,” said Matthew Goodman, a former Obama White House national security council aide responsible for international economic summits. “He could see that it wasn’t going to be a place to facilitate a really quiet, sort of intimate conversation.”

Each of the leaders will have his or her own cabin, though the allocation is classified. National Security Adviser Tom Donilon said the rustic environment will make it easier for leaders to huddle with each other privately on the sidelines. The leader meetings will take place in the dining room of the main cabin, Laurel Lodge.

Camp David offers other benefits as well. Participants there won’t be exposed to demonstrations from the Occupy Wall Street movement or from anti-globalization activists. Moreover, had both summits been held in Chicago as originally planned, Russian President Vladimir Putin would have had to have made an awkward exit after the G-8 while other leaders turned to NATO. In the end, Putin chose not to come, a move widely seen as a snub of Obama. Putin sent Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev instead.

About 70 miles from the White House, Camp David has been a weekend refuge for presidents since 1942, when FDR decided he needed to stay close to the capital during wartime while still escaping Washington’s oppressive summer heat. Roosevelt named it “Shangri-la,” the fictional valley in James Hilton’s 1933 novel “Lost Horizon.”

President Dwight Eisenhower renamed the retreat after his grandson David, though it retains its official prosaic name: Naval Support Facility Thurmont.

Over the years, presidents have had different attachments to the camp.

President Harry Truman seldom went there. But Eisenhower was a frequent visitor. An avid golfer, he had a putting green installed with tees at four distances and locations, thus essentially creating a compact four-hole golf course. Eisenhower hosted Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev in 1959.

Though presidents Kennedy and Johnson didn’t use Camp David much, Kennedy found it a useful place to consult with Eisenhower in the aftermath of the aborted Bay of Pigs invasion in Cuba and Johnson found it a useful place to meet with advisers over the direction of the Vietnam War.

It was President Richard Nixon’s favorite sanctuary when he was in Washington, retreating there to meet with foreign leaders or escape the pressures of Watergate. President Ronald Reagan was a frequent visitor. In 1992, President George H.W. Bush’s daughter, Dorothy “Doro,” got married at Camp David, the first wedding performed there. His son, President George W. Bush, was a camp regular, logging hundreds of days there during his two terms.

Not all have found the retreat to their liking. Margaret Truman found the place claustrophobic and gloomy, according to Dale Nelson’s book “The President Is at Camp David.” During the Israel-Egypt talks that Carter led, Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin reflected on the tight security and likened the camp to a “concentration camp deluxe,” and Nelson writes that Egyptian President Anwar Sadat would later confess to feeling like he was “under house detention.”

Obama visited Camp David 11 times in 2009 but has cut back his trips since. Friday’s visit will mark his 23rd visit to the camp and his first as host to foreign leaders. By this time in his presidency, George W. Bush had made 81 visits to Camp David for all or part of 256 days and had entertained 10 leaders there, according to records kept by CBS News’ Mark Knoller, who tracks presidential travel.

The weekend meeting will mark Obama’s first stay at the camp this year.

President Barack Obama, an infrequent visitor, is putting the presidential hideaway on full display for this weekend’s summit of the Group of Eight industrial nations, the largest gathering of foreign leaders ever to assemble there. Arriving Friday, the leaders will stroll the camp’s leafy paths and bed down in the 11 residential cabins. Four African leaders will join them for lunch Saturday.

More than 50 heads of state have visited Camp David over the past seven decades. But this weekend’s G-8 meeting represents the first time more than two foreign leaders have gathered there.

About 1,800 feet above sea level, the camp occupies at least 125 acres, is protected by Marines and though nestled in the Catoctin Mountains, it is incongruously part of the Navy’s budget. A short drive from the town of Thurmont in northern Maryland, the compound is not marked by road signs and is ringed by imposing security fences.

In choosing Camp David for the G-8 talks, Obama made an explicit decision to separate those economic discussions from the NATO summit that will immediately follow in Chicago, offering two distinct venues for each gathering — one tranquil and remote and the other boisterous and highly public.

“Chicago … is already going crazy,” said Matthew Goodman, a former Obama White House national security council aide responsible for international economic summits. “He could see that it wasn’t going to be a place to facilitate a really quiet, sort of intimate conversation.”

National Security Adviser Tom Donilon said each of the leaders will have his or her own cabin. The cabins, all named after trees or plants, differ in size and Donilon joked that the allocation of accommodations was classified. The rustic environment, he said, will make it easier for leaders to huddle with each other privately on the sidelines. The leader meetings will take place in the dining room of the main working cabin, Laurel Lodge.

Last March, Obama took note of the more informal nature of G-8 sessions in explaining the shift to Camp David. “The thinking was that people would enjoy being in a more casual backdrop,” he said.

Camp David offers other benefits as well. Participants there won’t be exposed to demonstrations from the Occupy Wall Street movement or from anti-globalization activists. Moreover, had both summits been held in Chicago as originally planned, Russian President Vladimir Putin would have had to have made an awkward exit after the G-8 while other leaders turned to NATO. In the end, Putin chose not to come, a move widely seen as a snub of Obama. Putin sent Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev instead.

Two hours from the White House, Camp David has been a weekend refuge for presidents since 1942, when FDR decided he needed to stay close to the capital during wartime while still escaping Washington’s oppressive summer heat. Roosevelt named it “Shangri-la,” the fictional valley in James Hilton’s 1933 novel “Lost Horizon.”

President Dwight Eisenhower renamed the retreat after his grandson David, and it also retains its official prosaic name: Naval Support Facility Thurmont.

Over the years, presidents have had different attachments to the camp.

President Harry Truman seldom went there. But Eisenhower was a frequent visitor. An avid golfer, he had a putting green installed with tees at four distances and locations, thus essentially creating a compact four-hole golf course. Eisenhower hosted Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev in 1959

Though presidents Kennedy and Johnson didn’t use Camp David much, Kennedy found it a useful place to consult with Eisenhower in the aftermath of the aborted Bay of Pigs invasion in Cuba and Johnson used its solitude to meet with advisers over the direction of the Vietnam War.

It was President Richard Nixon’s favorite sanctuary when he was in Washington, retreating there to meet with foreign leaders or escape the pressures of Watergate. President Ronald Reagan was a frequent visitor. In 1992, President George H.W. Bush’s daughter, Dorothy “Doro,” got married at Camp David, the first wedding performed there. His son, President George W. Bush, was a camp regular, logging hundreds of days there during his two terms.

Obama visited Camp David 11 times in 2009 but has cut back his trips since. Friday’s visit will mark his 23rd visit to the camp and his first as host to foreign leaders. By this time in his presidency, George W. Bush had made 81 visits to Camp David for all or part of 256 days and had entertained 10 leaders there, according to records kept by CBS News’ Mark Knoller, who tracks presidential travel.

The weekend meeting will mark Obama’s first stay at the camp this year.