Merkel’s Choice Pits European Fate Against German Voter Interest
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The night the Berlin Wall fell, Angela Merkel joined thousands of East Germans who pushed west over the border crossing at the Bornholmer Bridge, helping sweep away almost half a century of Cold War division.
Merkel, 57, is again at the nexus of history -- this time as its agent and leader of Europe’s dominant country. The union built out of the ashes of World War II faces an existential threat and the common currency she champions is at risk of collapse. Critics at home and abroad blame Merkel, saying she has invited disaster by bowing to public opinion and refusing to do enough to help Europe’s weakest links pay their debts.