Fergal Lenehan

Hitler hated him and called him a "cosmopolitan bastard" and he was said to be the model for Victor Laszlo in Casablanca. But Richard Coudenhove-Kalergi had a vision for a united Europe, which he developed in the Czech village of Poběžovice and which make him a hate figure for far-right conspiracists even today.

Recent events in Germany have suggested that Chancellor Olaf Scholz is finding more confidence as Germany enters the geopolitical stage in a role it feels more comfortable with. But there are still tensions.

Germans retain a vivid idea of what Total War actually means and the remnants of this occasionally re-appear. But are the country's conversations about Russia's war against Ukraine leading to a clarity absent in Ireland?

The threat of the red socks once scared voters in Germany, but that is unlikely to be the case in this election.

German political power is splintering as the country prepares for a post Angela Merkel world and, two weeks ahead of the federal election, the situation is volatile.