Germany’s role in the CFSP: ‘Normalität’ or ‘Sonderweg’?

When in the second half of 1994 Germany held the Presidency of the European Union (EU) the Federal Republic and, in fact, Europe were not the same as on the last occasion that Bonn had routinely taken on the office in the Community, in 1988. Within days of 1 July 1994 President Clinton had offered Bonn a ‘unique relationship’ with Washington, the German Federal Constitutional Court had accepted armed military peacekeeping missions and President Mitterrand had invited the 294th Panzergrenadier-bataillon to ride down the Champs Elysées on Bastille Day. These unrelated events demonstrated that united Germany now operates from a strategically new position. It also operates in a radically new international context: with Russian troops gone home, Moscow participating in the Group of Seven meeting of leading industrial nations and signing the ‘Partnership for Peace’ with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) as well as concluding the ‘Partnership and Cooperation Agreement’ with the EU, the European integration process is definitely placed in a new world.