ABSTRACT

This article aims to explore the possible cornerstones supporting the German position of leadership in the present European Union. These elements were established mainly in the post-World War II period, with the Social Market Economy (ESM), which would serve as the basis for the development of institutions that enabled the process of European integration and, based on the perspective of interdependence, stimulated international cooperation and favored the country’s reunification in the 1990s.The latter element, following European insertion, defined political agreements that would outline an economic model based on exports. Despite the problems that this situation produced, the description and analysis of its constituent elements corroborate the idea that the postwar German development process would serve as the basis for the German position of leadership, suggesting the configuration of a project in the European Union in the present.