From Berlin to the Battlefield: How Germany's 2025 Election Shapes European Security

 

Russia's war against Ukraine has fundamentally changed the security policy dynamic in Europe and prompted Germany to rethink its defense policy, military engagement and strategic role within NATO and the EU. The outcome of the Bundestag election on February 23, 2025 has important implications for the future of German security policy and its impact on European stability.

 

This presentation examined how the election result and the ongoing coalition negotiations could shape Germany's approach to defense and security, with a particular focus on:

 

 

Markus Kaim is the Head of the Department „Geoeconomy and Security Policy“ at the German Ministry of Finance since May 2024. Before joining the ministry, he was Senior Fellow and Head of the Research Group „International Security“ at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP). From 2019 to 2020, he was a Helmut Schmidt Fellow at the German Marshall Fund of the United States, Washington DC. Kaim serves as Adjunct Professor at the Bucerius Law School/ Hamburg, the Hertie School of Governance/ Berlin and the University of Zurich. He was a Visiting Scholar at the Institute of European, Russian, and Eurasian Studies at Carleton University/ Ottawa and held a Visiting Professorship for German and European Studies at the University of Toronto. Kaim was a Visiting Fellow at the American Institute for Contemporary German Studies at Johns Hopkins University as well as Visiting Fellow in the Department of Political Science at George Washington University. He holds a PhD in political science and master’s from the University of Bonn.

 

Sponsors: Centre for European and Eurasian Studies and the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD). This event is funded by the DAAD with funds from the German Federal Foreign Office (AA).

 

Co-Sponsors: Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy, Petro Jacyk Program for the Study of Ukraine, Department of Near Middle Eastern Civilizations, Department of Germanic Languages and Literatures, Anne Tanenbaum Centre for Jewish Studies, Harney Program in Ethnic, Immigration and Pluralism Studies, Department of Political Science and the Women & Gender Studies Institute.