Paradigm lost: A post-Merkel Germany in a post-Kohl Europe
If Europe isn’t what it used to be, this is largely because Germany isn’t what it long wanted to be
ECFR Alumni · Head, ECFR Berlin
Senior Policy Fellow
European integration; EU reform; European foreign and security policy; EU enlargement and Neighbourhood Policy; Europe in the world; global governance; German foreign and security policy; transatlantic relations; Europe/Asia
English, German
Josef Janning was a senior policy fellow and head of the Berlin office of the European Council on Foreign Relations until November 2019. His topics of focus include European integration, EU reform, European and German foreign and security policy, global governance and transatlantic relations.
Janning joined the European Council on Foreign Relations in April 2014 as senior policy fellow in the Berlin office. From 2013 to 2014 he was a Mercator Fellow at the German Council on Foreign Relations. Prior to that he served as Director of Studies at the European Policy Centre (EPC) in Brussels. Between 2001 and 2010, Janning led the international policy work as Senior Director of the Bertelsmann Foundation, a major private German foundation. Earlier positions in his career include Deputy Director of the Center for Applied Policy Research (CAP) at Munich University from 1995-2007. Previously, he has held teaching positions at the University of Mainz, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and a guest professorship at Renmin University of Beijing. He has worked with leading think tanks in Europe, the US and Asia, and engaged in and led various international study groups, high-level groups and commissions.
Janning has published widely on European affairs, International Relations, EU foreign and security policy, German foreign and Europe policy as well as global affairs. On these issues he is also a frequent commentator with German and international media.
If Europe isn’t what it used to be, this is largely because Germany isn’t what it long wanted to be
Berlin has turned punching below one’s weight into an art form. This is not good enough, either for Germany or for Europe
Britain helped bring modern, unified, and peaceful Germany into being. Its Brexit convulsions have trashed this historic reputation – probably for good.
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If Europe isn’t what it used to be, this is largely because Germany isn’t what it long wanted to be
Berlin has turned punching below one’s weight into an art form. This is not good enough, either for Germany or for Europe
Britain helped bring modern, unified, and peaceful Germany into being. Its Brexit convulsions have trashed this historic reputation – probably for good.
One week after climate talks at UNGA and the unveiling of the government’s new climate plan, Germany’s gap between lofty goals and actual initiatives is still striking
The heads of ECFR’s offices in Paris and Berlin share the thinking in their countries about the latest round in the Brexit saga
The heads of ECFR’s offices in Paris and Berlin share the thinking in their countries about the latest round in the Brexit saga
For most voters, the battle over people and positions would be revealing if only it wasn’t so confusing. It is misleading to frame the nomination process as an example of backroom politics prevailing over parliamentary democracy
With the US opting out of its traditional European role, the “German question” has returned. And European leaders will need to make sacrifices if they are to address it
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