What Lies Ahead of Germany’s Leadership Role in Europe

Cristina Balgar ()
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Cristina Balgar: Institute for World Economy Centre for European Studies Department, Romanian Academy, ROMANIA

Global Economic Observer, 2014, vol. 2, issue 1, 65-75

Abstract: After almost a quarter of a century since the fall of the Berlin wall, Germany has undoubtedly become the uncontested nerve-centre of the European Union (EU) in both economic and political terms, evolving not only as Europe’s most important economic power, but also as its de facto leader in terms of economic policy. Considering the negative consequences generated by the severe sovereign debt crisis that hit EU and Eurozone specifically and the further risks that this has provoked, reshaping Europe’s architecture became of vital importance for the future of European integration. Under these circumstances, major changes are needed in order to redesign EU’s configuration with a view to better withstanding the potential future crisis, to accomplish budget consolidation and to implement structural reforms in support of a deeper integration. The present paper aims to highlight the importance of Germany’s pivotal role in such a complex process and the necessity for it to exercise more leadership in order to help Europe to overcome the crisis and conflicts. Furthermore, our analysis emphasizes Germany’s current economic strength and its new geopolitical weightiness, factors that endow the biggest European economy to take the lead more decisively in the interest of safeguarding and farther developing the UE.

Keywords: Economic and political power; Germany; sovereign debt crisis; European integration; leadership (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: E E61 E65 F01 F02 F43 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2014-05
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