Dr. Henning Hoff

With his second visit to Beijing to see Chinese President Xi Jinping, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz set himself up for a failure. In contrast, Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck, when visiting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky three days later, had a firmer grasp of realities.

It’s not much of a secret that Emmanuel Macron and Olaf Scholz are very different characters. Their deepening rift is damaging the Franco-German relationship—and Europe.

The German government has straightjacketed itself by a return to the “debt brake,” pursuing a stringent fiscal policy at a time when the country is trying to fight its way of out a recession. Two of three ruling parties think the approach is wrongheaded.

2024 will likely test Germany when it comes to its two most important defense and security tasks: helping Ukraine and improving the Bundeswehr.

Just before passing its halfway mark, the coalition government of Chancellor Olaf Scholz has been hitting the financial buffers. Sadly, a general fiscal rethink is unlikely.

Germany has strongly sided with Israel in the aftermath of the brutal attack by Hamas, and for good reasons. However, this poses questions for German foreign policy that will be difficult to address.