Almost everything that’s happened since the end of WW2 has benefited Germany. They’ve grown fabulously wealthy while shouldering no responsibility for their own defense and while accepting no global obligations apart from their own business dealings. It’s time for Germany to step up to the plate.
The last thing you want is for Germany to rise back up again. They’re already openly antagonistic towards the USA, even going so far as to call the USA their enemy of late; give them a European Union military and they will use it in an offensive rather than defensive manner.
As I understand things, the calls to “step up” have to do with the framework of the USA continuing to be the great power; not them instead of us.