Given the unusual experience of extended uncertainty about the formation of a new coalition government in Germany following the federal election in Germany on 24 September 2017, international observers have raised questions and concerns on the potential impact of the next government on Germany's foreign policy and future role in International Organizations.

Whatever the outcome of the extended process of forming a stable coalition government will be, a fundamental and broad consensus on foreign policy among the democratic parties remains and will ensure continuity and reliability on Germany's international role. Even in the absence of a coalition, the recent Bundestag votes on the required prolongation of German participation in international military missions have provided comfortable multi-party majorities in each and every case.

The success of Germany over the last seven decades has been critically depending on three pillars: European integration, the transatlantic alliance and open markets worldwide. Germany has been the main beneficiary of the rules-based liberal international order as the backbone for peace and prosperity. But this rules-based international order is increasingly being challenged by both external actors and also from within. It is Germany’s pre-eminent strategic interest to maintain and develop the liberal international order.