April 14, 2011
As Europe's debt crisis threatened to spiral out of control, German Chancellor Angela Merkel boarded a Luftwaffe jet on Nov. 10 with her finance minister, Wolfgang Schäuble, for an overnight flight to a global summit in South Korea.
Ireland was on the verge of following Greece into a financial bailout. Portugal appeared close behind, and financial-market panic was infecting Spain. Investors, spooked by German foot-dragging as the crisis unfolded, doubted Berlin's willingness to keep writing checks to rescue its neighbors.
Ms. Merkel had emerged early in the crisis as Europe's taskmaster and defender of Germany's purse—the "Madame Non" of the euro zone. Mr. Schäuble, the elder statesman of the German cabinet and an unapologetic Europhile, spent much of the 10-hour flight encouraging Ms. Merkel to change her tune. She realized Germany needed to do more. The nation, he argued, had to help others in order to help itself.
"We must not always talk about what we don't want," the 68-year-old veteran politician told Ms. Merkel and her advisers. "We must say why the euro is in Germany's interest."
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