Dr. Henning Hoff

Led by Annalena Baerbock, the Greens have managed to position themselves as current leaders of the pack when it comes to replacing Angela Merkel in the chancellery. Their new focus on foreign policy, and a commitment to strengthening transatlantic ties, is welcome.

For too long, Germany has been in awe of China’s economic might. That has let the country turn a blind eye to how the newly assertive global power is making its presence felt.

On foreign and defense policy, the Social Democrats have long been the reliable second pillar of Germany’s centrist course. But the SPD’s downward spiral at the ballot box has given way to left-leaning signaling that may well do the party more harm than good.

Already attacked as someone too soft on the likes of Bashar al-Assad, Vladimir Putin, and Xi Jinping, new CDU leader Armin Laschet’s world view and foreign policy outlook is much in line with the German mainstream.

Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer has done more than most to put Germany’s armed forces, and the country at large, on a geopolitical course.