Insight

The 2013 German election

General Policy

 This report argues that:

  • After five decades, the idea that Germany owes a special debt to European integration is losing its force.
  • The process of reform that Germany has undertaken over the last decade has indelibly shaped its view of what it owes and can ask of the rest of the EU. To get inside the mindset of modern German politics, you need to see it through the experiences of the last ten years.
  • Observers who see Angela Merkel's caution on further big steps in European integration as electoral calculation are likely to be disappointed.
  • That there is scope for a new Anglo-German policy alliance on the EU if the occupant of No. 10 Downing Street is canny and persuasive enough to seize it.

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Authors

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