From Germany: Europe’s reluctant leader

Isabell HOFFMANN Project Manager, Project Europe’s future, Bertelsmann Stiftung Berlin will continue to play a central role in European politics, and this role will become even more pronounced with Britain’s exit from the EU. Although the United Kingdom has played little or no part in the management of various European crises in recent years, its exit will disturb the current balance of power in the EU. This inevitable increase in German visibility is frightening to Berlin, perhaps rightly so given Europe’s longstanding discomfort with “the German question”. The European Union is a legal community based on finely balanced common institutions. For many years, Germany was considered a master of navigating this system, creating balance and reconciliation through restraint. With regard to both the process and the results, Germany has been most successful when it has combined its own strengths with an inward-looking approach to integration with the EU. Berlin should