Angela Merkel

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Protesters kick a police barrier in front of the Parliament during German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s visit to Athens on Tuesday. She says Greece has covered “much of the ground” needed for recovery, but some 50,000 demonstrators see the visit as a harbinger of more austerity and hardship. (Associated Press)

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Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras (right) and German Chancellor Angela Merkel speak before their meeting at the Maximos mansion in Athens on Tuesday, Oct. 9, 2012. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis, Pool)

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**FILE** German Chancellor Angela Merkel (left) talks Aug. 24 2012, to Prime Minister of Greece Antonis Samaras during a welcome ceremony at the chancellery in Berlin. (Associated Press/dapd/Maja Hitij)

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German Chancellor Angela Merkel (left) and and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao walk together after inspecting a guard of honor during a welcome ceremony at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on Thursday, Aug. 30, 2012. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)

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German Chancellor Angela Merkel (left) and and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao walk together after inspecting a guard of honor during a welcome ceremony at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on Thursday, Aug. 30, 2012. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)

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German Chancellor Angela Merkel arrives for a meeting of the CDU/CSU parliamentary parties prior to a special session of the German parliament in Berlin on Thursday, July 19, 2012. (AP Photo/Gero Breloer)

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Stickers show which credit cards are accepted at a shop in Frankfurt, Germany, yet only 36 percent of Germans older than 15 possess a credit card, compared with 62 percent in the U.S. It’s that financial culture — an aversion to debt and an emphasis on savings — that makes Chancellor Angela Merkel’s hard-line approach to resolving the European economic crisis through austerity and budget reforms so popular among her constituents. (Associated Press)

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**FILE** German Chancellor Angela Merkel (left) and Italian Premier Mario Monti speak July 4, 2012, at a press conference during a bilateral meeting at Villa Madama in Rome. (Associated Press)

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German Chancellor Angela Merkel leaves an EU Summit in Brussels on Friday, June 29, 2012. European leaders have agreed to use the continent's permanent bailout fund to recapitalize struggling banks, and agreed to the idea of a tighter union in the long term. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)