At times, during the financial crisis, many were tempted to call Germany the Rottweiler of Europe. Germany was given many ‘nicknames’, from paymaster to shipmaster, to Scrooge.

But it is clear now that the central European powerhouse has come to terms with what has happened to Europe and it wants to take up the role of leader. It is the largest economy in Europe and there is no doubt, the eurozone depends on Germany.

TMI’s editor-in-chief, Noel Grima, recently attended a very informative briefing in Berlin, organised by the European Academy, and his findings make for very interesting reading.

During briefings, it was made clear that Germany was seriously tempted to give up on Europe and some voices were even considering a unilateral exit from the euro. But then as the situation became really serious and as Italy and Spain weakened in the international markets, Germany realised that it could not abandon Europe; it is an integral part of Europe and it wanted to save Europe.

Alarm bells in Europe have been sounded again, this time by Italy’s technocrat Premier Mario Monti, who said that instability in Spain might affect Italy’s borrowing costs. But Germany is confident that the worst is now over. Greece is starting to make slight headway and Germany has also realised that brow-beating the cash-strapped nation is not going to help anyone, least of all the eurozone as a whole.

Everything is still a little bit up in the air, but in the last two or three European Council meetings, there has been progress. Europe is, more or less, presenting a united front in the fight to save the euro.

At first it was France and Germany, but with Nicolas Sarkozy fighting an election campaign which sees him down in the polls, the pressure has shifted onto Angela Merkel. Besides, once it became clear that France has a large exposure to debts in Spain and Greece, then it’s position of power became less secure.

Europe has a long way to go. But in a situation where there were too many cooks in the kitchen, progress was sporadic and too many ideas went off at tangents. Now though, the most sensible candidate to be ‘leader’, has stepped up to the plate – and that leader is Germany.

This does not mean that Germany must take on the problems of Europe itself. No. This means that Germany is the leader; but it is the only with a concerted effort from all member states – both those in a healthy financial situation, as well as those who need to buck up and get their finances in order.

Europe has finally realised that if it is to compete in this world, it cannot remain to be a loose affiliation of states, each pursuing its own agenda. European nations must work together to ensure that this, the ‘unique experiment’ in democracy continues to thrive and flourish, even in the hard times that we face today.

At least, now, we know where we want to go, and who is going to take the lead in getting us there. How we get there and how we are going to divvy up responsibilities, is a matter yet to be decided.