José Sócrates begged Angela Merkel for help last week as Portugal became the latest eurozone country tipped for a bailout.
Portugal is tipped to be the third of 17 eurozone countries to collapse under the weight of its sovereign debt, needing a German-led bailout. Sócrates sounded desperate and eager to please, according to witnesses.
He asked Merkel what he should do, promised to do anything she wanted, with one big exception. He would not ask for money – for a eurozone bailout with extremely tight strings attached.
Merkel asked Strauss-Kahn about Sócrates' dilemma. The German-speaking IMF chief was dismissive. The Portuguese plea was pointless, he said, because Sócrates would not follow any advice he was given.
The same day last week that Sócrates was being brushed off by Berlin, José Manuel Barroso, commission president, announced in Brussels that the euro rescue fund had to be reinforced.
Publicly, Merkel and her finance minister, Wolfgang Schäuble, described Barroso's intervention as "unnecessary". Privately, the chancellor's office told Barroso to shut up, that the €440bn guaranteed by eurozone governments was none of his business since it was not his money.
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