FEATURED COMMENTARY & ANALYSIS

Germany’s Evolving Role in Transatlantic Security

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

Germany’s Evolving Role in Transatlantic Security

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

Germany’s Evolving Role in Transatlantic Security

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

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Content

Event Recap

Apr 16, 2015

Germany’s Evolving Role in Transatlantic Security

On April 16, 2015, the Atlantic Council hosted members of the German Federal Armed Services Committee of the Bundestag for a discussion on Germany’s evolving role in transatlantic security and the future of US-German relations.

Europe & Eurasia Germany
Czech soldiers participating in exercise Noble Jump, April 8, 2015

NATOSource

Apr 9, 2015

Exercise Tests If New NATO Force Can Respond Rapidly

By Naftali Bendavid, Wall Street Journal

When 200 Dutch troops converged on the air force base here this week, it wasn’t a routine case of reporting for duty but a test for a key element of NATO’s response to the renewed Russian threat.

Central Europe Germany
German CH-53, Feb. 25, 2015

NATOSource

Mar 31, 2015

German Military No Longer Standing at Ease as Security Fears Grow

By Stefan Wagstyl, Financial Times

[T]he Russian threat to European stability has galvanised backing for a more active military. A recent YouGov poll showed 49 per cent support for increased defence spending, versus 36 per cent against.

Germany NATO

Press Release

Mar 30, 2015

Atlantic Council Welcomes 2015 Next Generation Fellows

By Atlantic Council

The Atlantic Council’s Brent Scowcroft Center on International Security is pleased to announce the 2015 US-German Next Generation Fellows. The fellows are at the center of a Scowcroft Center project launched in February 2015 to identify new voices from the United States and Germany who will formulate a strategy and foster a debate on how […]

Germany

Event Recap

Mar 27, 2015

US-German Next Generation Project Launched

By Brent Scowcroft Center

The US-German Next Generation Project, a project the Brent Scowcroft Center on International Security launched in February 2015 to strengthen the transatlantic partnership through stronger US-German ties, hosted an opening reception on March 25. The event provided an opportunity to introduce the twelve young American and German Next Generation Fellows, who will be at the […]

Europe & Eurasia Germany

UkraineAlert

Mar 26, 2015

Less-Stringent Minsk II Terms Paved the Way for Renewed Sanctions

By John E. Herbst

On March 19, delegates at the European Union Summit in Brussels agreed to extend tough sanctions against Moscow—until year’s end if necessary—to get Russian President Vladimir Putin to implement the Minsk II ceasefire. Under terms of that deal, signed on February 12, EU sanctions won’t be lifted until Ukraine takes back full control of its […]

European Union Germany
German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Jan. 22, 2014

NATOSource

Mar 12, 2015

Germany’s Foreign Minister: The Transatlantic Order is Under Challenge

By Frank-Walter Steinmeier, New York Times

Today, the trans-Atlantic bond is being tested again. Crises are erupting ever closer to the European Union’s borders:

European Union Germany
A German Army Leopard II tank, Oct. 25, 2012

NATOSource

Mar 10, 2015

Calls in Germany Grow to Reverse Cuts to Army

By Anton Troianovski, Wall Street Journal

[A] chorus of leading German politicians is saying the Ukraine conflict calls for boosting military spending—until recently, a political taboo.

Germany NATO
"only one institution that can contain the conflict and deter it from spreading"

NATOSource

Mar 6, 2015

Time for Some Straight Talk on NATO

By Andrew A. Michta, American Interest

Unfortunately, there is a direct link between the lack of political will in Europe to respond to hard power emergencies and the stark decline in countries’ military capabilities and capacities.

Germany NATO
Time for a pivot back to Europe

NATOSource

Mar 5, 2015

NATO Unleashed: Stopping Russia in Its Tracks

By Marik String, National Interest

In the words of the West German defense ministry in 1979, “there can be no alternative to forward defense.

Germany NATO
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