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Powerhouse Germany's large contribution to an emergency fund, surging exports and rapid recovery from the financial crisis empowered Chancellor Angela Merkel to get her way in a "limited" rewrite of the EU's Lisbon Treaty to shore up the euro.
Under a system preferred by Merkel and France's Sarkozy, to be in place by 2013, highly indebted eurozone countries will be forced to restructure their debt in a process of "managed insolvency" and their creditors must take financial "haircuts".
European Central Bank chief Jean-Claude Trichet and Spain's PM among others objected to her plan.
