Page "Politics of Germany" Paragraph 45

Germany has played a leading role in the European Union since its inception and has maintained a strong alliance with France since the end of World War II.

The alliance was especially close in the late 1980s and early 1990s under the leadership of Christian Democrat Helmut Kohl and Socialist François Mitterrand.

Germany is at the forefront of European states seeking to advance the creation of a more unified European political, defence, and security apparatus.

For a number of decades after WWII, the Federal Republic of Germany kept a notably low profile in international relations, because of both its recent history and its occupation by foreign powers.