The mammoth rescue plan approved on Monday by the German cabinet will give Mr Steinbrück access to a €100bn “financial market stabilisation fund” and the authority to guarantee up to €400bn in bank debt. No minister will have held such sway over the German economy since Albert Speer was put in charge of the country’s entire production capacities by Adolf Hitler in 1942.

The German plan, expected to be approved by parliament by Friday under a fast-track procedure not used since the 1970s, gives Mr Steinbrück the full range of tools required to durably prop of the liquidity-starved financial sector, with elements borrowed from earlier British and US initiatives.