Five years late, Germany has finally presented some EU reform plans of its own. In Prague on Monday, Chancellor Olaf Scholz argued that Russia’s war on Ukraine was a moment of truth for the EU, demanding swift reforms to ensure well-known fault lines do not open further.
The speech was the latest iteration of the “watershed” narrative Scholz first presented in February, days after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. In his lauded Bundestag address the chancellor said Germany would stand with Ukraine, politically and militarily, and would reverse years of under-investment in its defence forces. On Monday at Charles University, the chancellor argued that overdue EU reforms – for credible foreign policy, co-ordinated defence plans or harmonised fiscal rules – all hinge on being able to make decisions. And that means shifting from unanimous voting towards majority voting.
During her crisis-filled four-term run Angela Merkel held Europe together like few of her peers – but little more. If politics is the art of the possible, Merkel rarely pushed to achieve anything beyond the necessary. When other leaders presented EU reform ideas, in particular Emmanuel Macron’s 2017 Sorbonne speech, she swatted them away as unrealistic without presenting any alternatives.
Sometimes Berlin did too little, too late; sometimes it overshot, mistaking German logic for pan-European reason. She seemed unaware or unconcerned at how often her officials raised neighbours’ hackles and, confusing mystery with strategic advantage, Merkel consistently left EU partners in the dark as to her intentions. With a self-aware nod to this inheritance, Scholz – in a well-structured, cohesive Prague address – said he wanted a reform debate “without prejudice, lecturing or blame games”.
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This raises expectations and is not without risk. Dublin will be wary of renewed talk of fiscal harmonisation while German voters are allergic to the idea of shared European debt. But proposals from Berlin for EU reform are as welcome as they are overdue.