BERLIN — As European leaders from 27 countries once again trudged off to Brussels on Thursday, this time to discuss how to help their millions of unemployed, few could have any illusion about whose wishes carried the most weight: those of Chancellor Angela Merkel and her country, Germany.

Ms. Merkel, 58 and in power since 2005, will seek a third four-year term in national elections on Sept. 22. Until then, she wants to avoid rocking the boat with voters, who give her popularity ratings in the 60 percent to 70 percent range and seem quite content with the give-and-take, muddling-through approach she has adopted in the protracted euro crisis, often to the consternation of financial markets.

Whether she is shadowboxing with the financial markets or engaged in direct spats with the leaders of Russia and Turkey, as she was this month, Ms. Merkel likes Germany to get the last word.

That was well illustrated early Thursday, after hours of haggling in Brussels over the latest compromise on banking. The bargain struck by European finance ministers required shareholders and creditors to take losses when banks collapse, with states and taxpayers stepping up only later. But because Germany still opposes any plan making its taxpayers liable for the losses of foreign banks, it stopped well short of the kind of debt sharing that markets have urged on Ms. Merkel and her country since the crisis erupted three years ago.