Europe’s economic and political power balance in flux

FOR much of the post-war era, close partnership between Germany and France has been a dynamo of ever-closer European integration. Yet, that calculus is changing, potentially significantly.

To be sure, cooperation between the two powers has ebbed and flowed in the past, quite often depending upon the personalities of the office holders in Berlin and Paris. However, there may now also be key structural forces in play too.

The case for the latter is that Europe, post-pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, is experiencing significant geostrategic change that may transform the face of the continent.