(CNN) -- Europe's leaders warned 2012 was likely to be tougher than 2011, when spiralling borrowing costs forced political change in Italy and Spain and threatened the survival of the euro. In a sombre address on national television Nicolas Sarkozy, president of France, said the gravest crisis Europe has faced since the second world war "is not over" and Angela Merkel, German chancellor, told German voters "next year will no doubt be more difficult than 2011". The euro crisis in 2011 forced borrowing costs higher for Italy and Spain and led to the dismissal of Silvio Berlusconi's centre-right government in Rome and the fall of the Socialist administration of JosÃ© Luis RodrÃ­guez Zapatero in Madrid.
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French president said the gravest crisis Europe has faced since the second world war "is not over"
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German chancellor told German voters "next year will no doubt be more difficult than 2011"
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The president of Europe's third-largest economy urged Italians to make sacrifices
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Spiraling borrowing costs forced political changes in Italy and Spain, and threatened the euro
Mr Sarkozy, who is facing a tough re-election campaign later this year, said @placeholder voters were more anxious at the end of the year than they were at the beginning.