ECFR launches new podcast series: “Searching for Deutschland”

Berlin, 16 January – The European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR) has launched a new pop-up podcast, “Searching for Deutschland“, which explores Germany’s European and foreign policies in the context of the upcoming federal election on 23 February. Hosted by ECFR’s editorial director, Jeremy Cliffe and the head of ECFR’s Berlin office, Jana Puglierin, the podcast will uncover the fault lines that will define how Europe’s keystone state acts in the world in the coming years. 

The title says it all: Searching for Deutschland starts from the premise that Germany has gone missing from its old European vocation. The country seems to have turned inwards. Its relations with vital partners have deteriorated. Foot-dragging and passivity have replaced the leadership that the federal republic – in its better moments – previously provided to the European project. So Cliffe’s and Puglierin’s questions now are: Where has Germany gone? Where can it be found? And how do domestic divides bear on those matters? 

Every Thursday, Cliffe and Puglierin will be joined by best-in-class experts from within ECFR and beyond it to address those questions. They will focus on those contentious European and foreign-affairs topics where Germany’s politicians and policymakers are divided – and how domestic politics and the unfolding election race influence those divisions. From German policies on China and Russia to the role of rising Eurosceptic parties like the AfD and BSW and German responses to the new Trump presidency, they will follow the campaign from a global perspective. 

Searching for Deutschland begins today with a discussion between the hosts and Mark Leonard, ECFR’s director, on why Germany has gone missing from its old leadership role and on the prospective foreign policies of Friedrich Merz, currently the frontrunner for the chancellery. It will then appear every Thursday until March, including a special webinar episode on the morning after the German election to digest the results. It will be the essential listen for anyone who wants to understand what the campaign, the vote, and the results mean for Europe and the world. 

Cliffe said: “Germany remains Europe’s keystone state. How its political fault lines shape its foreign policies is a defining question for the continent as a whole. That’s what we want to explore in Searching for Deutschland.” Puglierin said: “Germany, which often drove Europe forward in the past, seems to have gone missing. In Searching for Deutschland, we examine how it can regain its place on Europe’s map.” 

Episodes of Searching for Deutschland are available on all major podcast platforms, including Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, and more. You can also access the episodes, along with expert profiles and in-depth analysis of the German elections on ECFR’s website.