Until now I think Merkel's skills have been as mediator rather than decisionmaker, and her few ventures into tough talk have been unwise - for example describing Brown's largely successful steps against recession as being kneejerk Keyesianism.

Now, it seems, one of the first things her "pro-business" new coalition colleagues want to do is to start dismantling the German labour-protection laws that were long seen as an integral part of the Wirtschaftswunde. Unions have started shaping up for the fight. That combination could lead Germany into a winter of discontent.

Their prerogative, of course, but it would be damaging to the European recovery.

Also, if she now bows to banking pressure to take a softer line over the bonus culture, she could be the recipient of transferred consumer wrath.