German Leader Seizes Initiative and Confounds Her Critics

By NICHOLAS KULISH
NYT

BERLIN — The chancellor from Communist East Germany did not understand financial markets, critics whispered. The compulsive poll-watcher would not risk offending voters, analysts declared. Angela Merkel is German first and European second, fellow politicians complained.

Early on Thursday morning, Chancellor Merkel appeared to defy her detractors as she helped lead the nations of the euro currency zone to the most comprehensive deal yet to prop up the ailing shared currency, defend heavily indebted member states and protect the Continent’s shaky financial system.

“She is not the kind of person who leads Europe because she believes that she is meant to lead like some of her predecessors,” said Kurt Kister, editor in chief of the daily Süddeutsche Zeitung. “She takes responsibility when she sees that the others are not in a position and she believes that she has to.”

Throughout the slow-moving financial crisis it is safe to say that no one has been more fascinating, and more vexing, than Mrs. Merkel, who has frequently come under fire on both sides of the Atlantic for what critics assailed as her plodding, reactive, inadequate style of leadership. But something changed in the weeks ahead of Wednesday’s critical meeting.

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