World view:German chancellor Angela Merkel is a no-nonsense politician with little time for ornamental baggage, no matter how pretty, argues Derek Scally.
During Germany's EU presidency she has used this rational if ruthless approach to slash, burn and bury the constitutional treaty so carefully drafted by former French president Valéry Giscard d'Estaing.
Merkel's only priority was to preserve the treaty's perishable contents by exchanging something pretty for something practical. If the German leader displayed any concern in recent days, it was not about whether "her" summit would be perceived as a success or failure, but how to dispel the expectations that others have begun to project on to a person they have christened "Miss Europe".
The past six months of the German EU presidency were a master class for students of the German leader's political modus operandi, a set of skills that has already earned the name the "Merkel method".
Largely a political enigma when she came to power in 2005, the German media pinned labels on her - woman, East German, Protestant - in the hopes of uncovering clues to her personality.
The most satisfying basis for her so-called "method" is her background as a physicist. Although her years in the laboratory lie two decades in the past, they have left Merkel with an understanding of success and failure that is as elastic as it is liberating. Although she begins a process with a clear idea of where she wants to end up, the scientist in her can rate as a success an interesting result that is not a complete disaster, as long as it moves the process closer to an eventual goal - and leaves room for a fresh attempt.
This "process approach" has helped her to reach her most important political goals so far: taking the chancellery despite a disastrous election result, heading a stable grand coalition government despite only moderate reforms, and securing the recent climate agreements in the EU and at the G8.
Like a scientist preparing for an experiment, she relies on exhaustive preparation to minimise the dangers of disappointment, unpredictable results and personal recrimination.
At the start of the presidency, she and her advisers mapped out every conceivable conclusion to the constitutional experiment. Faced with a set of unwieldy tasks, she broke everything down into a set of modest steps that led to a clear conclusion: a road map and a time frame to guide leaders to the next EU treaty ahead of the 2009 European elections.
"I don't tend to jump to quick conclusions," she has said. "I prefer to go over things carefully to see where the traps could be lurking." With the traps mapped out, Merkel dispatched two close advisers to EU capitals to gather intelligence about each country's pressure points.
Halfway through her presidency, she displayed another aspect of her method that is more natural talent than scientific skill: a highly-developed sense for gestures and symbols that create long-lasting after-effects.
That was the thinking behind the sunny March weekend in Berlin to mark the 50th anniversary of the Treaty of Rome. On the surface an irresistible photo opportunity for EU politicians, the gathering managed to lighten leaders' moods towards the EU's future. The "Berlin Declaration" that was presented, though aspirational rather than binding, still bound leaders into a process to get a deal done in the next two years.
Merkel's unassuming East German style has proved to be another asset. Her lack of pretension creates a relaxed atmosphere in meetings which, observers say, neutralises even the most ego-driven alpha males.
Growing up on the same side of the Iron Curtain as many of the new member states also makes it easier to understand and react to their concerns without appearing arrogant. More than once she has reminded leaders of former communist countries that she, too, can remember a time when EU membership was a dream and not a given.
The Merkel method has its critics. Rivals in her Christian Democratic Union party snipe that her post-modern political style is light on ideology. In Brussels, her critics consider her moderating, consensus-driven style the political equivalent of a chemical catalyst that speeds along a reaction without itself being used up. Yet they acknowledge that this skill, which has gently eased 26 other EU leaders towards a summit agenda, has left German interests well served.
One fan-turned-critic, U2 singer and aid campaigner Bono, said this month that although she understood "intellectually and emotionally" his pleas for the G8 to keep its 2005 African aid promises, she backed a deal that presented old aid money as new.
He is just one of many critics who say Merkel is risk-averse and favours setting reachable, acceptable targets rather than more daring aspirational goals. By reducing expectations below the actual, modest target, critics say, almost any end result can be sold as a success.
This expectation-management spin practised by Merkel suggests that she is a political animal like any other, and someone who does indeed care about concrete results that make her look good.