Germany in the European Union

Germany’s role as an increasingly self-confident and assertive actor in foreign policy was achieved mostly through its membership of the European Union. Because of a strong congruence between German and European institutions, interests and identities, Germany has been portrayed as a ‘Europeanized state’. ¹ Yet recently Germany’s reputation as a Europeanized state has been challenged by some (Hellmann et al. 2005), raising the question whether it is possible for a state to de-Europeanize, or whether Germany has become more like other states, albeit still Europeanized in nature. Has Germany’s increasing self-confidence developed at the cost of its previous European enthusiasm? If Europeanization is understood as a process of ‘policy convergence’, is German foreign policy becoming immune to it? In contrast, which effects have EU policies produced on domestic elites regarding foreign policy? Have German decision makers attempted to coordinate policies domestically to produce a more effective policy? In the EU’s attempts to gradually emerge as a foreign policy actor, is there a nascent pan-European conception of interest and identity which is gradually being adapted domestically by the German political elite?