The Merz government has started to restructure Germany’s foreign and security policy apparatus. The changes are happening too slowly and are not radical enough.
Despite Chancellor Friedrich Merz and his government’s claims of a brand-new German foreign policy, there has really been more continuity than change. What Berlin needs to achieve is nothing less than a major strategy for protecting Europe’s security.
The world is facing the end of an idealistic-normative approach to the international order. Germany needs to recalibrate its approach.
Germany is facing turbulent times. This requires a clear moral compass as well as a high degree of economic dynamism and military strength.
Germany needs to stop thinking about foreign affairs and security in an isolated way. Fiscal policy, the country’s economic model, and the defense of our democracy have immense foreign policy implications that have been neglected so far.
The “China shock” and weakening relations with Donald Trump’s United States have made clear that Germany must embark on a quest for new partners. For Chancellor Friedrich Merz, the key criterion for choosing them is whether they’re willing to abide by international rules.
Britain and Germany should forge a military partnership to shape the arc from Greenland to the Black Sea.
While European publics have a very unfavorable view of Trump’s America, the same is not necessarily true of the rest of the world.
The Europeans lack their own ground-based deep-strike capabilities. These missiles must be produced very quickly and in huge numbers.
Europe is ill-prepared for the new age of great power politics. Berlin needs to lead in a participatory and inclusive way.
Brussels has started contributing considerably to the overall strengthening of what has long been an elusive concept: NATO’s European pillar.
One year into his second administration, the contours of US President Donald Trump’s foreign policy have become clearer.
