Germany's eastward urge
Germany has immense influence in Central Europe. But does it have the will to pull the three front-runners rapidly into the EU as well as NATO?
APPEND the three main countries of Central Europe to Germany, and the whole has a population of around 140m, close in size to Russia's. No such imperial marriage is in the offing, yet Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic are growing increasingly dependent on their heavyweight neighbour to the west. Germany is certainly master to Central Europe's apprentices, as they scurry to enter NATO and the European Union. This trio of countries, it is often said, now constitutes Germany's “backyard”--much as Mexico and Central America do for the United States. Does such talk rattle Central Europeans? Rather the opposite. They worry that Germany may lose its will to support them.
Discover more
Emmanuel Macron shows off the gloriously restored Notre Dame
Five years after it was gutted by fire, the cathedral is more beautiful than ever
Ursula von der Leyen has a new doctrine for handling the hard right
The boss of the European Commission embarks on a second term
Marine Le Pen spooks the bond markets
She threatens to bring down the French government, but also faces a possible ban from politics
The maths of Europe’s military black hole
It needs to spend to defend, but voters may balk
Ukraine’s warriors brace for a Kremlin surge in the south
Vladimir Putin’s war machine is pushing harder and crushing Ukrainian morale
Vladimir Putin fires a new missile to amplify his nuclear threats
The attack on Ukraine is part of a new era of missile warfare