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 and capable European political, defence and security apparatus.[45] Since its establishment on 23 May 1949, the Federal Republic of Germany has kept a notably low profile in international relations, because of both its recent history and its occupation by foreign powers.[46]
During the Cold War, Germany's partition by the Iron Curtain made it a symbol of East-West tensions and a political battleground in Europe. However, Willy Brandt's Ostpolitik was a key factor in the détente of the 1970s.[47] In 1999, Chancellor Gerhard Schröder's government defined a new basis for German foreign policy by taking a full part in the decisions surrounding the NATO war against Yugoslavia and by sending German troops into combat for the first time since World War II.[48]
The governments of Germany and the United States are close political allies.[49] The 1948 Marshall Plan, U.S. support (JCS 1067) during the rebuilding process (Industrial plans for Germany) after World War II, as well as fraternisation (War children), and strong cultural ties have crafted a strong bond between the two countries, although Schröder's very vocal opposition to the Iraq War suggested the end of Atlanticism and a relative cooling of German-American relations.[50] The two countries are also economically interdependent: 8.8% of German exports are U.S.-bound and 6.6% of German imports originate from the U.S.[51] The other way around, 8.8% of U.S. exports ship to Germany and 9.8% of U.S. imports come from Germany.[51] Other signs of the close ties include the continuing position of German-Americans as the largest ethnic group in the U.S.[52] and the status of Ramstein Air Base (near Kaiserslautern) as the largest U.S. military community outside the U.S.
