Columbia International Affairs Online: Working Papers

CIAO DATE: 09/2013

Merkel's Unfinished Business: Why Germany Needs to Act Strategically

Judy Dempsey

September 2013

Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

Abstract

German Chancellor Angela Merkel will soon face parliamentary elections. On her eight-year watch, her governing coalition has failed to develop foreign policy, security, and defense strategies. This weakens Europe’s ability to think and act strategically and limits the European Union’s (EU’s) influence in its immediate neighborhood and beyond. There is much unfinished business that the next chancellor, be it Merkel or someone else, will have to manage.