Security Association
Germany and the East Central European States
Deutsche Fassung
Abstract
In East Central Europe, Germany has not been considered a security threat for a long time. But the enlargment of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation and the European Union to the east, grand projects that bound Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Hungary to the Federal Republic, have been fulfilled. Pragmatism and the primacy of economics have found their way into relations. Divergent views on the role of the United States and Russia do no more produce fundamental disagreements. The EU debt crisis, however, brings a new challenge: Germany has recognised that it must assume a leading role in the EU. The countries of East Central Europe need to understand that in the long run only a strong EU with a strong Germany at its core can ensure that traditional security policy in Europe remains a non-issue.
(Osteuropa 2/2012, pp. 53–70)