ABSTRACT
This chapter presents a narrative which allows to fully capture the historical dimension of the two main issues that are at the cutting edge of the more recent debate on Germany's relationship to Europe: first, Germany's increasing actorness in European affairs - but also the limits of Germany's leadership role - and, secondly, the supposed erosion of Germany's traditional 'European vocation'. The request by the German government, later accepted, to be allowed to sign a German-language version of the Treaties of Rome, establishing the European Economic Community (EEC) and the European Atomic Energy Community (EAEC). The main international crises of the post-1989 period have also shown the limits, difficulties and contradictions of Germany as a 'civilian power' in exercising its leadership role also at the political level. The big problem, which is part and parcel of what is increasingly being outlined as the 'new German question', is indissolubly linked to the issue of Germany's unexpressed or incomplete leadership potential.
