When we presented our analysis of Germany’s role in global health in 2017 at an event in Berlin, Richard Horton, the Editor-in-Chief of The Lancet, asked only half-jokingly whether we could expect Germany to finally shrug off the habitus of the “reluctant leader” and “step up”. Back then, the entire team of authors were hesitant to use the term leadership as a broad label. We decided to highlight areas where leadership could be observed, but refrained from using it in the title of our previous study. 7 years later, after a devastating global pandemic, notable political changes in Germany, and amid a substantially changed global health landscape, we aim to analyse Germany’s role in global health once more.