For nearly thirty years, Germany prioritised economic prosperity over a genuine geopolitical strategy. Its model rested on three pillars: American protection, Russian energy and Chinese markets. In a stable international environment, this framework enabled Germany to exert its influence primarily through the economy, whilst maintaining a doctrine of military restraint. However, recent geopolitical...

After two decades of relative prosperity, Germany’s strategy based on free trade and its integration into international value chains is facing growing geo-economic fragmentation, Sino-American rivalry, the race for low-carbon technologies and the energy transition in industry. This new landscape has altered the factors determining Germany’s industrial competitiveness in the face of an increasingly...

On September 20, 2026, Die Linke won the regional election in Berlin, a first for the radical left-wing party in the capital. The housing crisis was at the heart of Die Linke’s campaign, and this victory reflects Berliners’ frustration with skyrocketing rents and difficulties in accessing housing. The German housing market is indeed facing significant cyclical and structural constraints, which today...

At the turn of the 2000s, Germany was regarded as the ‘sick man’ of the euro area. Facing high unemployment rates, sluggish growth and public finances weakened by the cost of reunification, the country seemed destined for a slow relative decline. Yet, within a decade, it managed to reinvent itself to become Europe’s main economic driving force.

Geopolitical events continue to shape the economic and financial outlook, primarily through energy prices.

First, we must make assumptions about the conflict in the Persian Gulf, which in turn shapeq the energy price scenario that feeds into inflation forecasts; then we must assess any second-round effects; and finally, we must map out growth trajectories. 

The succession of recent crises – the Covid pandemic, the war in Ukraine and now the conflict in the Middle East – has put energy back at the top of the agenda, no longer solely from an environmental perspective but as a fundamental driver of Europe’s economic power, with major implications for sovereignty and industrial competitiveness. 

The powerful political and geopolitical consequences of the conflict in the Middle East will extend far beyond the more immediate ones that this scenario aims to identify. This conflict is not an isolated incident, but rather it is part of a series of supply shocks (the Covid pandemic, the war in Ukraine, Houthi attacks) that highlight critical dependencies on a few key chokepoints (eg, commodities...

Against a backdrop of ongoing geopolitical uncertainty, but with the US trade fog lifting, growth rates are expected to remain steady or even pick up. Fiscal measures will contribute to this resilience in a variety of ways: from tax cuts in the US to aggressive fiscal policy in Japan, via Keynesian stimulus in the UK and spending linked to the NGEU plan on the one hand and the German recovery on the...

In an international environment that is still as anxiety-provoking as ever, uncertainties remain, numerous and multifaceted. Nevertheless, hoping that those emanating from US economic policy will calm down (and that at least tariffs will stabilise), the scenario is staying the course. It is characterised by a slowdown without recession in the US, followed by an acceleration in 2026, a continued recovery...