Explained: How war in Ukraine has dimmed influence of France and Germany in Europe

In August, in Prague, the chancellor of Germany, Olaf Scholz, said it bluntly: "The center of Europe is moving eastward." Russia's invasion of Ukraine has been a shock to the complacent European order, both to the European Union and to NATO. And it has underscored and enhanced the influence of the countries of Central and Eastern Europe. Poland and the Baltic states have driven the moral argument to support Ukraine, filling a near-vacuum early in the war, when Europe's traditional leaders, France and Germany, appeared paralysed. But the war has also brought new urgency and energy for the enlargement of…