Merkel's Ironic Victory in Brussels

``Merkel was still playing the role of Europe's chief skeptic at this EU summit. But under pressure from her, the 27 EU heads of state and government decided to amend the Lisbon Treaty to establish a permanent rescue mechanism for the euro zone. She insisted on the word "essential" in the treaty text -- an EU nation would be saved in the future only if its fiscal rescue was deemed "essential" for the whole euro area. The wording leaves wide room for interpretation, and will in reality probably turn out to be completely irrelevant. But it's typical of the German pleas and objections that have annoyed the rest of the EU for most of the year.''