Germany's Role in the EU and the Eurozone after the Merkel Era

Abstract

The September 2021 federal election in Germany marked the end of the 16 year reign of Angela Merkel as chancellor. As such the election represents a critical juncture in Germany's European diplomacy at a time when the European Union has been in persistent crisis mode for more than decade and faces the substantial challenge of having to tackle the effects from the Covid pandemic. Although Germany was widely characterised as the hegemon of the eurozone in the wake of the systemic crisis in 2009-11, the limitations of Germany's hegemonial resources became obvious during the final years of the Merkel era. Germany is today less stable and predictable in political, economic and social terms than it was during the first three decades since reunification. This potentially has profound implications for the future stability of the EU and its core project, the single European currency. This panel analyses Germany's position in the EU and the eurozone after the end of the Merkel era with a particular focus on the challenges faced by the new three-party SPD-Green-FDP "traffic light" coalition government under the leadership of chancellor Olaf Scholz. Papers should concentrate on domestic and external challenges to German leadership in the EU and the eurozone. The focus on diverging European policy positions within the new government, political, economic and social transformation, challenges for the eurozone and the Single Market in the context of the German ordoliberal leadership approach and perspectives for the Franco-German partnership, as well as new potential cooperative constellations between Germany and other member states, is particularly welcome.

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