The front page of Italian daily newspaper 'Il Giornale' carried on Friday the headline 'Quarto Reich' above a photograph of German Chancellor Angela Merkel raising her right arm, a gesture widely known as the Nazi salute used by Hitler's followers in the 1930s to signal obedience to their leader.

'Il Giornale', headed by Paolo Berlusconi, brother of former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, highlights in its article Germany's intransigence in the handling of the Euro-zone crisis.

"Merkel's 'no' brings Italy and Europe to their knees" says the subtitle.

"Since yesterday, Italy does no longer belong to Europe but to the 'Fourth Reich' [...]The Germans decide, and the Italians have to live with the decisions made by the new Kaiser, Angela Merkel who wants to control our country," the article says.

Il Giornale's 'Quarto Reich' headline comes a day after European policy-makers failed to deliver on measures to resolve the eurozone debt crisis.