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weeks of governing under his belt, and built his career as a consensus-builder. And his country's economy is weaker, with growth forecast at just 0.4 percent this year.
• Hollande was grinning broadly Wednesday night at the one concession he has been able to wring from Merkel so far, an agreement to put growth on the European agenda alongside austerity measures.
• Merkel, standing stiffly at Hollande's side ahead of bilateral talks in Paris, agreed to push for the €130 billion ($162 billion) stimulus package that Hollande has vaunted, even though it is largely just a re-packaging of existing EU funds.
• Shortly after his meeting with Merkel, Hollande talked to President Barack Obama about their common push for growth.
• Even if leaders of all 26 other EU nations line up against Merkel, she cannot bend very far.
• She needs the German Parliament to approve the eurozone's permanent rescue fund, the European Stability Mechanism, and a European budget-discipline pact, both expected to happen Friday. And many measures floated as possible solutions could require changes to Germany's constitution.
• Amid calls for Greece or other Mediterranean states -- and even Germany -- to pull out of the euro, Merkel argued Wednesday for greater unity.
• "We need more Europe. Markets are waiting for that."
• But she also insisted that jointly issued eurobonds -- which some experts say would help defuse the prospect of unaffordable bailouts for Spain or Italy by making their debt less expensive to pay off -- would be "economically wrong and counterproductive" before governments have shown they can comply with budget rules.
• "Supervision and liability must go hand in hand," she said.
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