German Chancellor Angela Merkel is the subject of a new wave of criticism for tough stance on the Eurozone crisis.

Already a figure of hate in Greece for insisting on austerity in exchange for aid, Ms. Merkel has endured montages of herself in a Nazi uniform, but the run-up to this week’s EU summit has unleashed particularly savage images and headlines.

Politicians from Paris to Washington are piling pressure on Ms. Merkel, leader of Europe’s biggest economy, to solve the debt crisis which threatens to derail the Global economy.

But ‘Frau Nein’ shows little sign of giving ground on such issues as mutualising Europe’s debt or slashing public spending not least because her approach has boosted her popularity among German voters in the countdown to next year’s election.

Britain’s left-wing New Statesman magazine last week splashed an image of Merkel as the Terminator with a glistening robotic eye and Arnold Schwarzenegger-style black jacket on its front cover under the headline “Europe’s most dangerous leader”.

In an article arguing that Merkel’s “mania for austerity” is destroying Europe, senior editor Mehdi Hasan characterized her as a greater danger to global prosperity and order than Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad or North Korea’s Kim Jong-un.

“Merkel is the most dangerous German leader since Hitler” wrote Hasan, adding that under her leadership Germany, Europe’s paymaster, was isolated, loathed and feared in equal measure.

It may be a British tradition to poke fun at Germans, but the tone has turned nasty even in some mainstream publications.

Her allies say she is not alone in the Eurozone discussions as some richer northern states also support her tough position. They also argue that critics from abroad fail to appreciate the parliamentary and constitutional restraints she is under.

In the course of the debt crisis, the German Constitutional Court has ruled several times to boost the say of Germany’s parliament in euro zone affairs, slowing down the decision-making process.

Ironically, it was the United States and Britain which imposed this political system of checks and balances on Germany after World War II to avoid a repeat of Hitler’s dictatorship.