‘Germany is back,’ said Friedrich Merz, the man likely to be elected as the new German Chancellor this coming week. What sounds like a promise to some and a threat to others is certainly a sign that the new German leadership will aim to take a more assertive role in European and world politics. Merz isn’t even chancellor yet, but he’s already keen to signal that he will take a more active interest in foreign policy than his predecessor.
The outgoing chancellor Olaf Scholz has gained a bit of a reputation for his reluctance to respond to international events, particularly the war in Ukraine. Shortly after the invasion began in 2022, he took such a low profile that ‘Where is Olaf?’ jokes were making the rounds. What Scholz called ‘Besonnenheit’ or ‘prudence’ was quickly labelled ‘Scholzing’ by the Ukrainians, defined as promising support only to delay it. The Chancellor’s relationship with some foreign leaders, particularly French President Emmanuel Macron, is so fraught that it exacerbated rather than relieved tensions.
Merz has ensured that foreign policy can be controlled from the chancellery
Merz wants to do things differently.
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