Angela Merkel and Nicolas Sarkozy are running out of road.

Whether to allow Greece to default and how to manage thefallout, questions they have tried to avoid for more than a year,may finally require answers as European officials turn tofortifying banks and consider ways of easing Greece's debt load. Itcosts $6 million plus $100,000 a year to insure $10 million ofGreek securities for five years, with credit-insurance pricespointing to a 91 percent chance of default.

As the German chancellor and French president prepare to meet intwo days for their eighth bilateral summit in 20 months, Merkel hascited the need to prepare for the default that investors see as asure thing. Sarkozy, whose banks have the most to lose, isunwilling to gamble on letting Greece go.