Portugal has emerged as Europe's booming anti-Germany

Germany's resolute Chancellor Angela Merkel is not usually one to admit she's been wrong. But this autumn, when it comes to her faith in austerity economics in Europe, Merkel, together with her then-Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaüble, did as much - in deed, if not in word.

The Germans threw their hefty weight behind the leftist economist Mário Centeno,…