All eyes on German leader at make-or-break summit

GERMANY: On her Facebook page, German leader Angela Merkel lists as her favourite quote a line from former chancellor Konrad Adenauer: "The point of policy is not to be right but to be right after all."

That sums up her leadership approach: pragmatic, cautious, waiting to see which way the wind blows before acting. But analysts say the euro crisis has galvanised her and that Europe's future lies as much in Berlin as in Brussels.

It is Merkel's Germany that kicked off the debate on bank recapitalisation in Europe, is now pushing investors to take harsher losses on Greek debt and is driving root-and-branch reforms to turn the eurozone into a fiscal union.

But it has not always been this way. Merkel earned herself the soubriquet "Madame Non" during the 2008 crisis for appearing to dither over a stimulus package for Europe's powerhouse economy. This time around, she seems to have realised the seriousness of the crisis. As she reiterated again on Wednesday ahead of the summit: "If the euro fails, then Europe fails. We will not let that happen." AFP