Chancellor must manage potential defections by both Britain and Greece, plus Franco-Russian mediation

Considered by some to be the European Union's de facto leader, German Chancellor Angela Merkel is seeking to establish a firm line as the EU grapples with its tense relationship with Russia and fresh existentialist drama about Europe's future.
Merkel will meet British Prime Minister David Cameron today for what is likely to be an uncomfortable encounter between the two conservative leaders.
As head of the EU's biggest country and the new chairwoman of the Group of Seven countries (G7), Merkel is counting on Cameron to shore up support for a united approach on sanctions against Russia for its intervention in Ukraine.

                                                                          Angela Merkel.

Yet she is also wary of the Europhobia that has festered under Cameron, who has vowed to stage a referendum on continued EU membership if he wins the next general elections, due in May.
Conservative British parliamentarian John Redwood said the discussion was likely to be pragmatic. German concerns about a British pullout from the 28-nation EU had to be balanced with what he said was a groundswell of public disaffection for European federalism.

"Many people in the United Kingdom find the current relationship we have with the rest of the European Union quite unacceptable and not in Britain's interests. I think if Germany wants to try and keep us in they have to understand we need a radical change in the arrangements," Redwood told the Herald.
"Mrs Merkel will not regard our position as toxic and she won't make any public denunciation - if she did it would be a very bad decision for Germany."
Another bumpy ride is likely on Sunday when Merkel is likely to press French President Francois Hollande at a meeting in Strasbourg to maintain sanctions against Russia and pursue reform to spur the sagging French economy.
Russia's currency has been thrown into a tailspin by a twin effect of Western financial restrictions, imposed for its annexation of Crimea, and by a plunge in the price of oil, its main export. At the same time, Hollande is under pressure from Moscow to hand over a warship built in French shipyards under a contract sealed by his predecessor, Nicolas Sarkozy. Penalties worth hundreds of millions of dollars, as well as hundreds of French jobs, are at stake.
Hollande and Merkel will attend a summit in Kazakhstan on January 15 that will include the presidents of Russia and Ukraine.
"If Russia is in crisis, it's not necessarily good for Europe," Hollande told France Inter radio. "I'm not in favour of brinkmanship. I think that the sanctions must stop now. They must be lifted if there is progress. If there is no progress, they will remain."
Hollande's comments follow remarks by Merkel's coalition partner and Vice-Chancellor, Sigmar Gabriel, a Social Democrat, who warned fresh sanctions against Russia would "provoke an even more dangerous situation for all of us in Europe".
"We want to help solve the conflict in Ukraine, not to force Russia to its knees," Gabriel said in an interview with a Berlin newspaper.
Meanwhile, fresh turbulence in Greece has revived memories of the storm that struck the eurofrom late 2009. In May 2010, the European Union, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund saved Greece from bankruptcy and lent it 110 billion ($194 billion). In 2012, they approved a second bailout of 130 billion.
In return for additional financing aimed at helping Greece balance its books, the troika insisted on a raft of austerity measures which remain deeply unpopular. Greek voters go to the polls on January 25 with the anti-austerity leftist Syriza party predicted to score at least a third of votes, according to a poll published at the weekend. Conservative Prime Minister Antonis Samaras, a former economist, warns the vote could determine his country's euro membership.
Merkel is taking the lead in demanding the Greeks meet their obligations and, according to the weekly Der Spiegel, considers it "almost inevitable" that Greece will quit the eurozone if Syriza wins and abandons austerity policies.

Germans leave anti-immigrant protesters in the dark

The lights went out all over Germany as famous landmarks were plunged into darkness as part of a growing protest against anti-immigrant demonstrations.
As the protesters tried to take their campaign against what they say is the "Islamisation of Europe" by immigrants to Berlin, they were heavily outnumbered by counter-protesters. Authorities switched off the floodlights at the Brandenburg Gate in a mark of disapproval.
The lights were also extinguished at the city's TV Tower as part of a campaign by opponents of the protesters to greet them with darkness where they tried to gather.
In Cologne, where protesters were also heavily outnumbered, floodlights were switched off at the cathedral that dominates the city skyline. Bridges across the Rhine were also darkened.
Thousands of protesters gathered in Dresden under the banner of "Patriotic Europeans against the Islamisation of the West" (Pegida). But police estimated 10,000 Pegida supporters rallied in Dresden, much lower than the 17,500 in the last demonstration before Christmas.
Pegida supporters were looking increasingly isolated as thousands marched in counter-protests in cities including Hamburg and Munich.
- Telegraph Group Ltd

- NZ Herald