The beginning of the summit. The swing was first reported last morning by FTD. As for a reason for the swing, there is that first article I paraphrased, "anonymous government people say that the rest of Europe should follow or else be suspect of hiding dark secrets" (I could post a full translation in an hour).

Who will be the loser (politically) as a result? Ackermann or Merkel?

On this, neither. The German media coverage of the summit focuses on the austerity consensus and the Merkel resp. Franco-German failure with the financial transfer tax. But surely this is a loss of face for Ackermann for speaking out personally, now that the whole bankers' association folded.

_{*Lunatic*, n.
One whose delusions are out of fashion.}