Merkel Saved Greece and Killed the Euro

This week has confirmed that Angela Merkel is the towering figure of European politics. The German Chancellor arrived in London on Thursday having rescued Greece from defaulting this month on its national debt. She stopped Greece, at least for now, becoming the first country to crash out of the euro.

But she hasn’t saved the euro for ever. Germany has argued since the creation of the currency bloc on January 1, 1999, that disintegration was unthinkable — no, more than that, actually impossible. Yet the Greek drama has exposed the contradictions built into the currency from the start, and how much these suit Germany itself — but how they cannot continue.