Die Relevanz des Weimarer Dreiecks für die europäische Außenpolitik Die Relevanz des Weimarer Dreiecks für die europäische Außenpolitik

Since the 2016 Brexit referendum, there have been calls to revive and intensify cooperation within the Weimar Triangle, especially as more leadership and cohesion are needed in the European Union. After all, France, Poland and Germany together now account for 45 percent of the EU's gross domestic product, 42 percent of its population and more than half of its defense spending. Last but not least, growing security problems at the EU's external borders and the return of great power politics make it imperative to cooperate more closely in the interest of Europe's ability to respond to such challenges. In their recent joint declaration of October 2020, the foreign ministers of the three countries argued that the Weimar Triangle was important not only to coordinate their own positions, but also to initiate efforts to position a more solidary Europe, strengthened by unity, on the international stage. But to what extent does this ambitious rhetoric correspond to reality? To address this question, the following article examines French, German, and Polish positions in four areas of strategic importance: threat perception, transatlantic relations, European defense policy, and relations with Russia.