In a circular advice distributed to German embassies, the foreign minister, Guido Westerwelle, deplored the damage done to Germany’s image by the euro crisis, warning that stereotypes about the “ugly German” were being revived. He was not wrong. The European Central Bank and the European Union policy of enforced austerity, seen as directed by Berlin, is hugely unpopular in the ‘olive belt’ periphery of indebted Eurozone countries.