The symbol of Europe's tough prescriptions for Greece

Washington

WOLFGANG Schauble is a wheelchair-bound 72-year-old who has spent much of his career calling for a harmonious, integrated Europe. He is also an austerity advocate whose inflexibility in the face of Greece's economic misery has come to symbolise Europe's tough prescriptions for the nation.

"He's been sucking your blood for five years," said a poster bearing Mr Schauble's dour image that popped up across Athens last week. "Now tell him NO."

In the greatest test yet of Europe's single-currency experiment, Mr Schauble, Germany's finance minister, is both a pioneer and a public enemy. Few on the continent hold a m…