有关德国需要承担更多政治与军事责任的讨论始于2014年慕尼黑安全会议召开之际。2016年，一份10年来最新的《安全政策与联邦国防军未来白皮书》与一份13年来欧盟最新的《全球战略》的出台使这场讨论达到了一个新的高潮。然而，这两份文件都无法兼顾6月发生的英国脱欧公投与11月的唐纳德·特朗普当选美国总统。特朗普对北约安全保障的相对弱化唤醒了欧洲各国的外交部门。德国联邦政府明白，它必须接手欧洲领导责任及进一步强化德国军事实力，不过，实施之路仍困难重重。尽管如此，但倘若在特朗普执政的新形势下，欧洲仍未能将自身的安全掌握在自己手中，那么将来就更无动力可言了。
The debate that started at the Munich Security Conference in 2014 on whether Germany should assume more political and military responsibility was brought to a new climax in 2016 by the German White Paper on Security Policy-the first one in ten years，and the Global Strategy of the EU-the first such document in 13 years. Both documents could，however，not take into account the decision on Brexit in June or the election of Donald Trump as U.S. President. His questioning of NATO’s security guarantee came as a clarion call to foreign ministries across Europe. The federal government is well aware that it has to assume leadership in Europe and do more for Germany’s military capabilities，but it continues to struggle. Yet if Europe is not capable of taking its security into its own hands under the auspices of a Trump presidency-when will it？
