It is fair to describe Macron’s vision for the EU as Gaullism for an entire continent: a powerful third party, with its own values and interests, skating between an unreliable US and a dangerous China. Merkel didn’t buy into the vision. What about the new German government?
Let’s put it this way–the EU cannot be a true world power in its own right without detaching itself from the US in NATO and creating its own viable, independent military capability. That would involve massive increases in defense spending in Germany and throughout the EU. The Free Democrats aren’t going to be interested in spending increases of any sort; the SPD and the Greens will want to spend any additional money on infrastructure, workers, and the environment, not more men with guns.
In short, the dream is a road to nowhere. The new government may be slightly more accepting of the notion of a transfer union, but that’s it.