The new German government will have to shift its foreign policy focus: away from the US and towards its own defense.

Germany's new government will have huge foreign policy challenges to deal with when it comes into power: many are calling this moment in German history nothing less than the beginning of a new era, one in which the country will have to reorient itself in many, almost all areas. Or, to put it another way: a final farewell to the comfortable position of being an economically powerful, yet geopolitically rather cautious nation.

For many decades following World War II, West Germany remained firmly committed to the West, becoming an ambassador for multilateralism and an advocate of democracy and the rule of law. Foreign policy decisions were made in close cooperation with friendly Western states, while the US was responsible for the country's security.

And now? At the Munich Security Conference (MSC) in mid February, new US Vice President JD Vance announced that Europe must pay its own defense costs and take responsibility for its own defense. In an interview with DW, Friedrich Merz, chairman of the center-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and Germany's likely next chancellor, expressed his irritation: "We are at a historic juncture: security guarantees from the US are being called into question and the Americans are questioning democratic institutions."

And all of this is happening at breakneck speed.