Photo Gallery The Merkel Way
Merkel is the most powerful politician in the euro zone, but she prefers to lead without recourse to a grand vision. Instead, she takes things step by step, not always knowing herself where the path will lead.
More than anything, though, Merkel would like to see a bit more discipline in euro-zone fiscal policy. Such demands, however, have made her far from popular in those countries suffering the most from the euro crisis. This particular caricature is from Rome in October.
A naked man protesting in central Greece on the occasion of Chancellor Merkel's early October visit there. Merkel has said repeatedly that she doesn't want a German Europe. But there are certainly elements of German discipline that she would like to export.
Close observation of Merkel this year, as she travels through Europe and around the world this year, reveals a relentlessly objective woman, one who is primarily interested in key indicators like growth rates, demographic trends and debt levels. When Merkel is asked about the causes of the euro crisis, she likes to reply with a brief lecture on economics.
For months, Merkel wavered over whether or not Greece should remain in the euro zone. As recently as summer, she couldnt decide whether to believe in the domino or the ballast theory, as she called the two alternatives. Ultimately, she became an adherent of the domino theory.
Germany's first poswar leader, Chancellor Konrad Adenauer, together with French President Charles de Gaulle in 1962. Merkel is the least passionate about Europe among all postwar chancellors.
Merkel is undoubtedly the most-hated woman in Europe at the moment. Protest follow her every visit in the euro zone, including this march during the chancellor's November visit to Lisbon.
German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble has laid out a grand plan for euro-zone reform -- the kind of plan that Merkel herself has always shied away from.
