Mujtaba Rahman
Mujtaba Rahman is the head of Eurasia Group’s Europe practice. He tweets at @Mij_Europe.
After a humiliating two-round vote, Friedrich Merz is Germany’s new chancellor. And upon taking office, one of his first acts will be a visit with French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris.
Asserting the primacy of the Franco-German partnership is a traditional gesture for all new French and German leaders. And after the four years of misunderstanding and occasional outright hostility between Macron and former Chancellor Olaf Scholz, this will be a welcome return to custom.
Just as significant, however, is Merz’s second foreign visit, which is set to be with Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk — a meeting that underscores just how much the bloc has changed.
There’s good reason to believe that the Franco-German “motor” within the EU will jolt back to life in the Macron-Merz era. The two men agree on many things, from the need to create a “sovereign” Europe to the existential obligation to prevent Russia from winning the Ukraine war.
Moreover, Merz has made it clear that, faced with U.S. President Donald Trump’s “America First” unilateralism, Germany’s delicate post-war pas de deux with the EU and the U.S. must end, and he has called for “independence” from Washington.
No comments:
Post a Comment