
France’s New Laissez-faire Approach to Germany
Paris has learned to advance its EU agenda with whatever government emerges in Berlin.
Germany’s 2021 federal election marks both the end of Angela Merkel’s 16-year chancellorship and the realignment of German foreign and security policy. It presents an ideal opportunity for DGAP to offer the future German government constructive recommendations for action based on its foreign policy expertise on geo-economics, technology, climate, migration, international order, and security. We invite you to engage in dialogue with us through the publications and events in this dossier.
Paris has learned to advance its EU agenda with whatever government emerges in Berlin.
Prolonged talks? Messy politics? Merkel still not gone by New Year’s? Actually, Germany may have a new government more quickly than many think.
The Weimar Triangle should become a new driver of reform and deeper integration within the EU. Despite the recent developments in Poland, Germany, and France should not give up on it, but rather enhance the trilateral dialogue.
Berlin needs to improve its decision-making processes, and that means repairing its creaky foreign policy set-up—a contribution to the debate about a German National Security Council.
Germany needs to shape its own security context and that starts with its politicians speaking honestly with the public about risks and threats, and taking clear foreign policy stances.
In France, the prospect of the Greens entering the German government this fall raises both hopes and fears.
At the close of the Merkel era Germany’s armed forces face a wide array of challenges most political parties have not even started to acknowledge, never mind address.