text: "sbwhoeopFriday April 23 2010 10:11 AMFYI Kornblum... SidIn light of Clegg's rising popularity partly based on his anti-Americanism and Germany's growing hegemony in Europewhile becoming more insular John Kornblum has written this op-ed with reference in last graphs to US policy.7.71April 23 2010I.H.T. Op-Ed ContributorGermany in Need of a DreamBy JOHN KORNBLUMHas Germany abandoned Europe? Do Angela Merkel's tough conditions for aid to Greece mean that Germany is nolonger the motor of European integration? Has Frau Merkel in fact morphed from the Miss Europa of 2007 to the FrauleinGermania of 2010 as Germany's own former foreign minister Joschka Fischer has suggested?As a former American ambassador who has lived arid worked the better part of four decades around Germany myBlackberry often glows red hot with messages from persons asking these questions. My response is always the same:Germany has changed very little but Europe and the world have changed a lot. Therein lies the dilemma.Germany has worked hard to dig its way out of the disaster of 1945 but trauma remains a defining issue for Germansociety. Sixty five years later Germany is still focused on the three essentials of its recovery: stability respectability andpeace. Keep this triangle in mind and lots of things quickly come into focus.From the first days of the Federal Republic. Germany's leaders emphasized the importance of defining interests solelywithin a common European and Atlantic vocation. But they also understood that renouncing national ambitions did notremove the responsibility to pursue specific German goals through the common institutions.Many important postwar accomplishments were conceived and pushed by Germany sometimes over the opposition ofothers — including the United States. Ostpolitik was controversial for years as was NATO enlargement. Germany pushedthem with determination.Helmut Kohl did not consult before promulgating his 10 points on reunification. He agreed to French desires for a commoncurrency but only if it could be a mirror of the Deutsche mark for decades the European monetary standard. The eurostability pact now the object of so much controversy with Greece was the result. After 1990 the E.U.'s eastwardexpansion was Germany's way of firming up its Eastern flank.Slowly and without fanfare Germany has been remaking the European Union in its image. At each step of the wayGermany made its wishes more palatable by paying more than its share. Part of today's misunderstanding is caused byGermany's success in using its contributions to build an image of selflessness. Germany has been as single-minded inpursuit of its goals as Charles de Gaulle ever was for his but it almost always left leadership to others.A new consciousness grew after the costs of reunification began to mount. ""Europe"" in the institutional sense has becomeincreasingly unpopular. German courts have begun to define German European issues in the context of the GermanConstitution rather than on the basis of E.U. law. At least some of Ms. Merkel's refusal to allow immediate assistance toGreece was based on her fears that it would fan anti-E.U. sentiment at home. Are these the first signs of a German TeaParty?Here we find the source of most of the hand wringing about Germany's role as the ""motor of Europe."" Ms. Merkel'sunwillingness to sweeten the financial pot echoed throughout Brussels. To many it signified the decline of Germanwillingness to ""salute the French flag three times before raising the German flag"" as Konrad Adenauer used to put it.Germans are not alone in objecting to throwing more money into the E.U. pot but they happen to be the only ones whocan do something about it. Many fear that without German complaisance the E.U. will stutter to a stop. But such self-denial could never offer a viable foundation for a new Europe. Neither could the inefficiency and even corruption thatcharacterizes many E.U. programs.Most maddening for most thinking Europeans is the knowledge that the Germans are right. But to them the question iswhether Germany is remaking the E.U. in a fashion palatable to the majority of other member states. They are not so surethat its focus on stability and accountability is the right way to help such a diverse collection of peoples adjust to aglobalized world.And so when Angela Merkel raps Greek knuckles she is sending a message most Europeans don't want to hear. Not thatGermany is dangerous; even worse that it is unrelenting. The Neue aricher Zeitung probably spoke for many otherswhen it once accused Germany of wanting Europe to become a large Switzerland.The growing gap between Germany's aspirations and the perceived needs of other members of the E.U. is beginning toburden both sides. Most Europeans are simply not ready to live up to German standards. Without a more flexible sense ofcommon purpose the project to build a democratic Europe could stop dead in the water. But as Germans will themselvesoften tell you: They have forgotten how to dream.Younger Germans feel this lack of inspiration as well. Dreams were what 200000 of them were waiting to hear when theyrallied to hear Barack Obama in Berlin two summers ago. They wanted more than to ""Dare to Hope"" which is thecharacteristically timid German translation of the title of the president's best seller. And they are still waiting. Americaseems busy elsewhere.The main conclusion I draw from the debate about Germany is that it is not about Germany at all. The task of building ademocratic Europe is far from complete. Most of the foundations have been laid and now the residents are starting tohaggle over the design. Weaving today's 27 states into a true trans-Atlantic partnership is a task that is too big forGermany or even Europe to accomplish alone. They desperately need some skilled architectural assistance.Uniting Europe and North America is the most audacious project ever conceived. If it works the United States will bejoined by nearly 500 million Europeans to form a democratic space within which modern democratic values will harnessmore energy than in any single nation on earth. Democracy's future as the operating system for a globalized world will beassured.European fecklessness seems to worry Washington officials these days. But if Germany has forgotten how to dream andthe United States is too busy to try we will both be guilty of perpetuating the aimlessness we so criticize. To hold up itsside of the bargain Europe needs exactly what Barack Obama originally promised — the audacity of hope.John Kornblum senior counselor with the international law firm Noerr LLP in Berlin served as the U.S. ambassador toGermany from 1997 to 2001."