France, Germany must bury the hatchet to save Europe.

Yet, contrary to France, Germany has so far failed to provide a clear response to this development. President Emmanuel Macron of France laid out a bold vision for Europe during the Munich Security Conference (MSC) last month. "We need a European strategy that allows us to present ourselves as a strategic power. The Europe I have in mind is a Europe that is sovereign, united, and democratic," he said. Macron has increasingly invoked this vision as an answer to the prevailing perception in Europe that the United States is beginning to withdraw from the international stage, leaving a void that is slowly being filled by China and Russia.

More worrisome for some in Europe is the growing feeling that the US is retreating from its traditional role as security guarantor for the continent, particularly in light of US President Donald Trump repeatedly criticising European allies for not paying more for their own defense. This on top of the US withdrawal from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF Treaty), Paris Climate Accord, and Iran nuclear deal. As German President Frank Walter Steinmeier said at the MSC: "Our closest ally, the US, under the current administration, rejects the very concept of the international community." Yet, contrary to France, Germany has so far failed to provide a clear response to this development. Berlin continues to be paralysed and undecided how to react to a possible US withdrawal from Europe. Concretely, Macron wants a much stronger common European defense policy - though he was careful to point out that none of his proposals are in any way projects 'against Nato'. He has pushed, for example, for the implementation of the so-called Permanent Structured Cooperation on Defense (Pesco) that was launched in November 2017. In the long term, Macron's vision is even more far-reaching. "At the beginning of the next decade,

Europe needs to establish a common intervention force, a common defense budget and a common doctrine for action," he said at the Sorbonne in 2017. On defense issues, Macron is ready to work with a 'coalition of the willing', in case it does not work with all 27 remaining EU countries after Brexit. One example is the European Intervention Initiative, which he proposed in the same 2017 Sorbonne keynote and which launched in June 2018. It consists of 14 EU member states, plus Norway and the United Kingdom (UK), and is based on a network of military liaison officers. In addition to this strengthened...