Fifteen months into the covid-19 pandemic, there has been a major collapse in Germans’ trust in the European Union.

German politicians need to react to the growing pressure on the consensus in German society for an outward-looking and pro-EU Germany.

At the same time, Germany’s traditional ways of thinking are increasingly unsuited to addressing new foreign policy challenges.

To find a viable model for its economic, security, and EU policy, the next federal government needs to address some of the unsettling issues that its predecessors have often ignored.

The key to building support for an outward-looking and pro-EU Germany lies, paradoxically, in anchoring German policy in a narrower focus on the national interest.

To engage more confidently with a world that is changing, outward-looking Germans need to shape a progressive new national identity before it is defined by the forces of isolation and exclusion.

If Germany does not shift its course, it will end up with an inadequate foreign policy that lacks public support.

Policymakers need to better explain how Berlin uses the EU to increase its influence and thereby enhance the wealth, prosperity, and security of the German public.