FEATURED COMMENTARY & ANALYSIS

Is Germany’s Military Readiness Problem a Critical Vulnerability for NATO?

New Atlanticist
May 6, 2025

Is Merz’s double-take chancellor vote a sign of things to come in Germany?

By
Jörn Fleck and Jurek Wille

It took two rounds of voting in the Bundestag to elect Friedrich Merz chancellor, a sign of division unprecedented in modern German history.

Defense Policy
Elections

Is Germany’s Military Readiness Problem a Critical Vulnerability for NATO?

New Atlanticist
Feb 19, 2025

Germany’s economy has gone from engine to anchor. Here’s what the next chancellor faces.

By
Piotr Arak

Revitalizing growth in Germany’s economy, which appears increasingly mired in stagnation, will demand urgent action from the next chancellor.

Economy & Business
Elections

Is Germany’s Military Readiness Problem a Critical Vulnerability for NATO?

New Atlanticist
Feb 4, 2025

The next German chancellor must lead from the front, not the middle, on European security

By
Rachel Rizzo, James Batchik

From support for Ukraine to defense spending, German leaders would be wise to take the phrase Führung aus der Mitte permanently out of their vocabulary.

Elections
Germany

Events

Online Event
Tue, May 6, 2025 • 10:00 am ET

What to expect from Germany’s next government

Elections
Europe & Eurasia
European Union
Germany

Online Event
Tue, February 25, 2025 • 9:00 am ET

Debriefing Germany’s federal elections

Elections
European Union
Germany
Politics & Diplomacy

Program

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Content

German Leopard 2, December 2011, (US Army).

NATOSource

May 16, 2018

Is Germany’s Military Readiness Problem a Critical Vulnerability for NATO?

By John Vandiver, Stars and Stripes

Germany’s military is virtually undeployable and security experts say it is too weak to meet its obligations to its allies, as it prepares to assume command of NATO’s crisis response force next year.

Germany NATO

Event Recap

May 15, 2018

Europe Faces Historic Test After US Quits Iran Nuclear Deal

By Future of Iran Initiative

One week after President Donald J. Trump’s announcement that the United States is withdrawing from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) and re-imposing sanctions, dismayed European parliamentarians spoke at the Atlantic Council with a clear voice: European sovereignty is at stake and Europe will take the necessary measures to defend it. “There was, until […]

European Union France

In the News

May 14, 2018

Braw in Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung: Germany Should Build Highways

By Elisabeth Braw

Read the full article here

Germany

In the News

May 9, 2018

Shaffer Quoted in DW on Russian-German Gas Pipeline

By Brenda Shaffer

Read the full article here

Germany Russia

New Atlanticist

May 7, 2018

Where Does the P5+1 Stand on the Iran Nuclear Deal?

By Ashish Kumar Sen

US President Donald J. Trump is expected to reveal his decision on May 8 as to whether he will extend key sanctions waivers on Iran. A failure to do so would effectively take the United States out of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA)—the Iran nuclear deal—which it signed with the United Kingdom, France, […]

China European Union

New Atlanticist

Apr 27, 2018

Franco-German Role Reversal Reflected in Washington Visits

By Louis Golino

The visits to Washington this week by Europe’s two top leaders—French President Emanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel—underscore the dramatic changes within Europe and in the transatlantic relationship over the past year. France has emerged as arguably the European Union’s most influential nation today, and certainly as Washington’s preferred partner. In this, France replaces […]

European Union France

New Atlanticist

Apr 26, 2018

It’s Merkel’s Turn: Phase Two of Europe’s Tag Team Effort With Trump

By Jörn Fleck

There seemed to be a plan behind French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s visits to Washington this week: a carefully choreographed tag team effort to tame US President Donald J. Trump’s unilateralist impulses on tariffs and the Iran nuclear deal that cause serious friction in transatlantic relations.

European Union Germany

New Atlanticist

Apr 26, 2018

Can the Competing Logic of Macron, Merkel—And Structural Change in Europe—Coexist?

By Jeffrey Gedmin

“We are happy when people and things conform and unhappy when they don’t. People and events don’t disappoint us, our models of reality do.” —    Stefan Zweig, Austrian novelist, playwright, journalist, and biographer Lawmakers in the national parliament—who “owe just about everything to him”—are “perfect foot soldiers” for a leader with “an expansive notion of […]

European Union France

New Atlanticist

Apr 26, 2018

A Strategy for Merkel to Get Trump’s Attention

By Jacob Schrot

When German Chancellor Angela Merkel arrives in Washington on April 27 for her second visit since US President Donald J. Trump took office, she will not be weary of pointing out the common democratic values that Europe and the United States share and cherish. Trump will equally not be weary of showing his genuine disinterest […]

Germany United States and Canada

New Atlanticist

Apr 26, 2018

The Coming of Emmanuel Macron

By Nicholas Dungan

Whatever the policy outcomes on individual issues, Emmanuel Macron’s three-day state visit to Washington, from April 23 to April 25, will have succeeded in one goal which is surely at the top of the French president’s agenda: to “Make France Great Again.” He did so by assuming the mantle of the leadership of the West, […]

France Germany
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Samuel Denney

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English Europe & Eurasia

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Tyson Barker

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James Batchik

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Central Europe Digital Policy

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Noel Coenraad

Strategy Advisor, Vattenfall AB

Millennium Leadership Program

Energy Transitions Germany

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Hanna Dohmen

Nonresident Fellow

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China Chinese

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Jörn Fleck

Senior Director

Europe Center Transform Europe Initiative

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