ABSTRACT
Germany is the largest country in the EU with a population of more than 80 millions. In spite of some concerns about Germany’s role after unification in 1990 (Bulmer and Paterson 1996, Katzenstein 1997), German EU policy is committed to closer economic and political integration. Both after-unification governments, the Christian-liberal Kohl government and the social democratic-green Schröder government, have promoted European integration and constitution building, even though unified Germany is still a net contributor and struggling with an average growth rate of 1.3 percent1 and high unemployment.2
