Beyond Merkelism: What do Europeans expect from post-Merkel Germany?
What do European citizens expect from Germany’s next government, after 16 years of Angela Merkel? With little over a week to go until the elections, join a panel of pundits to analyse ECFR’s latest survey of attitudes of 16,000 citizens across 12 EU countries
Guests
Piotr Buras, Head of Warsaw office & Senior Policy Fellow, ECFR
Tom Nuttall, Berlin Bureau Chief, The Economist
Daniela Schwarzer, Executive Director Europe/Eurasia, Open Society Foundations
Thomas Wieder, Berlin Correspondent, Le Monde
Chaired by
Jana Puglierin, Head of Berlin office & Senior Policy Fellow, ECFR
What do European citizens expect from Germany’s next government, after 16 years of Angela Merkel? With little over a week to go until the elections, join a panel of pundits to analyse ECFR’s latest survey of attitudes of 16,000 citizens across 12 EU countries.
For the winners of the elections it will be tempting to stick with what worked for Merkel: avoiding hard choices and finding compromises. But to build on Merkel’s legacy and good reputation among Europeans, Berlin will paradoxically need to revise those principles of Merkelism that made Europeans place their hopes on Germany.
Germany will have to take clear positions on two most urgent challenges the EU is facing: the crisis of the rule of law and the risk of EU’s geopolitical marginalisation. With just one in five Europeans viewing Germany as leading the bloc in its relations with Russia, and even fewer seeing Berlin defending EU interests when dealing with China – the next government must address the failing foreign policy credentials.