Rola i miejsce Niemiec w Europie w pierwszej dekadzie XXI wieku

Abstract

The paper deals with the important issue of European policy at the beginning of the 21st century and the role Germany, one of the leading EU countries, played therein. On the one hand, the analysis focuses on the internal and external factors shaping the decision-making process in the EU as well as on its subsequent stages. On the other hand, the author discusses the attitude of Germany towards the reforms and the enlargement of the EU in 2007–2009 and this country’s role in euro zone debt crisis until the middle of 2010. In conclusion of his article, the author summarises the results of German European policy at the beginning of the 21st century and points to the possibility of closer cooperation in this field between Germany and Poland. Retrospectively, the predictions and assessments included in this article, written in the autumn 2010, were proved largely correct by the subsequent developments of the debt crisis.