Angela Merkel: Europe's saviour – or biggest problem?

Merkel's greatest failing, says Charles Grant, of the pro-European think-tank the CER, is that she's either unwilling or unable to question prevailing German orthodoxies. "Truly great political leaders, real statesmen – they can change the weather," Grant says. "They're prepared to think the unthinkable, to say and do things that they know will be deeply unpopular. Merkel just isn't naturally quite brave enough to do a Thatcher, even a Sarkozy, and try to actually change the way people think." ..."Her advisers are absolutely convinced they're right," says Grant, "and they won't take lessons from Anglo-Saxons. But there's a real danger that Merkel, neither an intellectual nor an economist, will go down as the woman who destroyed the euro because of this lack of boldness, this inability to challenge the intellectual climate in which she operates."