BSR Policy Briefing 6/2020

In the second half of 2020, Germany has held the rotating presidency of the Council of the European Union (EU) under totally changed circumstances. The COVID-19 pandemic struck Europe and turned the political agenda upside down, but it has also evidenced how interlinked political and economic powers are nowadays. The past decade, marked by multi-crises, has made Germany almost overwhelmingly economically strong, at least when compared to its European partners. At the same time, the EU has lost a great deal of its global political weight, leaving Germany politically weaker than before the crises.

As regards the future of European integration, Europeans must – despite the election of Joe Biden as the next president of the USA – take greater responsibility for the stability and security of the continent and its neighbouring regions. Especially, if the security-political division of labour between NATO and the EU were to erode, the EU would lose one of its most important providers of regional security and stability.  The Franco-German tandem will remain a key pillar of Germany’s European policy, but it needs to be strengthened in order to push forward long-overdue EU reforms.