Germany’s Positive Leadership
News regarding Europe continues to be preoccupied with the war in Ukraine and the latest surprises from Washington, but a lot of other developments are present. Among the most important is the positive effective leadership role of Germany.
A new Anglo-German agreement, the Kensington Treaty, was signed by Chancellor Merz and Prime Minister Keir Starmer at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.
Merz has called for greatly increased cooperation among the two nations plus France.
This is a complement to the new Anglo-French agreement to coordinate nuclear weapons strategy. Historically, Britain has been closely tied to the United States in this regard.
Historically as well, France was distinctive for pursuit of policies independent of Washington regarding nuclear weapons and other matters. Conflict reached a height of intensity during the Kennedy administration, when an assertive American president figuratively collided directly with imperious president Charles de Gaulle of France.
Recent years have brought steady low-key reconciliation across the Atlantic. In 2009, France rejoined NATO after dramatically rejecting the organization, and forcing NATO headquarters out of Paris, in 1966.
Chancellor Merz also scored a diplomatic triumph with his visit to President Trump at the White House on June 5. In contrast to the disastrous meeting between embattled President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine and Trump, the session with Merz was calm, friendly and productive. Given the volatile nature of the U.S. leader, this is a well-deserved tribute to the interpersonal skill and human insight and social discipline of Germany’s head of government.
In very concrete terms, Germany is demonstrating leadership of Europe and the larger Atlantic area alliance in creating the path to greater defense spending and expanded support of Ukraine in the continuing brutal war with Russia.
Germany’s defense spending is projected to rise from 95 billion euros in fiscal 2025 to 162 billion euros in fiscal 2029.
Trump suggested sending Patriot missile defense systems to Germany so that the systems already in that nation’s possession could be forwarded to Ukraine. This is significant given the U.S. leader’s past negative words about NATO.
Generally at least, Germany leading the way in increasing defense spending, joined by other members of the alliance, helps U.S. companies and therefore our own economy. A total of 63 per cent of Europe’s weapons and related military needs are supplied by U.S. defense companies.
Where corporate profits and the business bottom-line in military matters is concerned, the concept of differences between the two sides of the Atlantic ocean is blurred.
Moreover, belief the U.S. is being taken advantage of by European nations is a prominent theme of the Trump administration. Actually, complaints about European allies failing to spend more on defense dates back to debate over goals established in 1952 at a conference in Lisbon Portugal. During the Cold War, 300,000 U.S. forces in Europe were substantially supported by host governments.
Most fundamentally, Germany’s success and positive leadership today indicates Europe overall is moving beyond the ideologies that were so destructive in the twentieth century. Communism took root in Imperial Russia, directly aided by Imperial Germany, and spread thanks to the enormous costs and chaos during and after World War I. That ideology helped generate the Cold War. Threat of communism, along with awful economic misery, spawned fascism and Nazism, and World War II.
Dedication and discipline of earlier U.S. leaders was crucial to ultimate victory in the World Wars and the Cold War. Democratic Germany is a particularly important consequence.
Arthur I. Cyr is author of “After the Cold War – American Foreign Policy, Europe and Asia.” Contact acyr@carthage.edu