法国在欧洲被慢慢边缘化了吗，德国正在取代法国成为欧陆的新「霸主」吗？ 第1页

As a German living in France, I think the question should be phrased the other way around "I France gaining weight in Europe at Germany's expense?"

Germany is dominating Europe in many ways, foremost economically.

It's ~1/3 bigger than that of France.

For quite some time now, France has been looking to Germany as example in many ways (justified or not). In the last presidential elections in France, this was a big theme.

Germany, under Chancellor Schröder a long time ago, had initiated reforms of the labor market under the label "Agenda 2010", citing the target year (this started ~5 years earlier).

Many attribute Germany's recent economic success to these reforms, some contest it. In any case, Germany had made some reforms, and France for a long time seemed unable to make any significant reforms. Too strong was the resistance from labor unions and any other special interest groups who feared change.

Under President Nicolas Sarkozy, reforms were planned, the President being eager to change his country. However, his lavish personal life style alienated the people, and he lost so much credibility that he could not succeed.

The last President, Francois Hollande, in my perception never really honestly tried to accomplish anything. He seemed quite happy with the fact he was President, and his "reforms" first went into the direction of his socialist party, and at a later stage into the opposite direction.

In total, many consider these 2 presidencies as wasted time.

The current President, Emmanuel Macron, has quite a number of ambitious plans, and much more dexterity in implementing things. His election gave new hope to a nation which seemed in resignation.
Most recently, the reforms are meeting resistance, e.g. from the railway operator, students and others. But that is normal. Any serious reform meets resistance.

The opposite is happening in Germany.

Chancellor Angelika Merkel is serving since 2000 !
She is now heading a "Grand Coalition" again of the 2 biggest German parties. While in theory, this would allow almost any reform, in reality it means political standstill.

The inner-German discussion currently circles around the "question", if Islam belongs to Germany or not. It's actually trivial. You look around yourself, and you see people of Islamic faith next to Germans. Many are from Turkey and the first generation came in the 1950's, their children and grand-children now play in our national soccer team. Some also came in the recent wake of refugees. And Germany is a secular state, where church and state are separated, and where we have freedom of religion. So its not an issue where you could do anything. Yet some politicians prefer to cause public upheaval around the topic, instead of doing their homework of major reforms.

This can also be observed on the European stage, where President Macron is pushing important projects for further unification of Europe (e.g. a European Finance Minister, a European Monetary Fund etc.). Germany is simply trying to preserve the status quo.

M. Macron knows many other European nations behind him, while Germany stands almost alone. If it were not for its great economic weight, the outcome would be clear.

Usually, it is the one who acts who defines what is being discussed. In Europe, that is much more France right now than Germany.