Czechia and Germany in times of war: Time to act together
This policy paper further develops an original briefing paper mapping the starting points and national positions of Czechia and Germany towards Russia and goes into detail on what
should be done to make Czech-German cooperation on Russia more efficient in several policy areas, including security, energy, humanitarian dialogue as well as the debate on the
future of relations with Ukraine and Russia.
While some areas are more consensual and easier to find common ground, there are still notable disparities and diverging voices, especially on developments in Eastern Europe after Russia’s war against Ukraine has ended as well as future positioning of the EU vis-à-vis Russia, also in the context of relations with the United States. In other areas, such as security or energy, it is possible to identify many common challenges and internal weaknesses, the resolution of which would be more successfully achieved by close cooperation. Efforts to deepen coordination have been present over the past several months, however, there is still substantial untapped potential for the future, e.g. when it comes to the European prospects of Ukraine (and Moldova or Georgia) or in the area of international justice.