Rather than seeing today’s Germany as a Fourth Reich, we should view it as shaped by the desire to avoid the Nazi model at all costs. As Mr Schäuble’s comments in Athens made clear, Berlin’s 21st century conception of hegemony is about forging a set of rules and then insisting that everyone sticks to them. Discretionary power – the essence of Hitler’s rule – is thus to be kept to a minimum. A community of norms will bind Europeans together.
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