The West needs Germany more than ever before

The fall of the Berlin Wall should have been a great moment for celebrating Britain’s role in the rebirth of democratic Germany. Its communist system was dismantled with extraordinary success. Margaret Thatcher had an important part to play. Yet all she saw was danger. A month after those incredible scenes in Berlin, she told EU leaders: “Twice we beat the Germans. Now they are there again.” Pulling out maps of Silesia, Pomerania and East Prussia from her handbag, she intoned to François Mitterrand, the French president: “They’ll take all of that, and Czechoslovakia too.” To her credit, in her memoirs she admitted she got it wrong.

Three decades on, Britain still doesn’t seem to know what it wants of Germany. When its economy struggles, it is derided as the “sick man of Europe”, over-regulated and oldfashioned. When German companies corner global markets, they are denounced as unprincipled.

Yet perhaps, just perhaps, the tide might be turning. The trigger has been Covid. In pretty much every area of their response the Germans have proved more adept at dealing with the crisis. They planned earlier. Their emphasis on engineering allowed them to produce protective equipment and ventilators quickly. A potential weakness turned out to be a strength: regional and municipal leaders had almost complete autonomy to plan their response and to impose restrictions. “Track and-trace” has worked well.

It is hardly a surprise that, since March, many an interview with a British minister has started with: “Why can’t we do it more like the Germans?”

As autumn sets in, Germans, too, are anxious. Infections are rising fast. Some people are behaving irresponsibly. Yet there are fewer places one would feel safer. Part of the success can be attributed to health policy. But I would argue it is about far more than that.

The measure of a country is not the difficulties it faces, but how it surmounts them. On that test, contemporary Germany is to be envied. It has developed a political maturity that few can match.

When I started writing my book in late 2018, I wanted its title to be provocative: Why the

Germans do it Better. To my surprise, it seems to have struck a chord in the UK where many people are beginning to respect the three virtues most embodied in contemporary Germany – efficiency (so far so familiar), but also social cohesion and modesty.

In Angela Merkel it has the perfect crisis manager, quiet, calm but resolute. Back home, Boris Johnson might try to emulate some of her style. Attention to detail rather than bombast produces results.

Over the past few weeks, Germans have indulged in their favourite pastime – soul-searching. As the country today marks the 30th anniversary of reunification, they are loathe to praise themselves.

I defy anyone to name any other nation that could have absorbed 17 million compatriots with so little trauma. Yet Germans focus on what went wrong: the insensitivity of the privatisation body that allowed too many enterprises to go bust in the early Nineties; the perceived arrogance of Wessis. And the biggest error: the failure to identify more people from the East to serve in senior positions and as role models.

Rather than turn Germany into a dangerous hegemon, as Lady Thatcher feared, the events of 1989-90 have made it more reluctant to appreciate that it is now an example for others.

Next year, Merkel’s time will be up. Her Christian Democrat party will soon vote for her successor. Germans are already talking about how much they will miss her. The change will go far beyond personnel. The country is feeling the strain of past certainties removed.

Status quo is no longer an option. What happened to the rule of law around the world? What happened to the spread of human rights? What happened to an international order that was deceptively secure?

As much of the contemporary world succumbs to authoritarianism, as democracy is undermined from its heart by an out-ofcontrol US president, a powerful China and a vengeful Russia, one country – Germany – stands as a bulwark for decency and stability. The Western world needs Germany more than either we, or the Germans, dare to admit.

Why the Germans Do It Better: Notes from a Grown-up Country is published by Atlantic