The Franco-German couple ran into trouble after the end of the Cold War because its balance was lost in German unification, but the shared commitment to the European idea remains fundamental to both countries. Suddenly that idea is recovering luster because Brexit has focused minds and because of what the French call the threat of “a new Yalta.”

In an interview with Le Monde, Jean-Louis Bourlanges, a former member of the European Parliament, defined this 21st-century Yalta as “a Russian-American couple that does not hide its hostility to the union and to the independence of Europeans.” Trump, in his first visit as president to Europe, will face the widespread perception that he loves every dictator he meets but has a hard time with a European democratic leader, like Germany’s Angela Merkel. This in turn has inspired a sense that an opening exists for Europe to lead the free world in the defense of its values because America under Trump has abdicated that role.

Merkel is the favorite to win the German election in September. A Macron-Merkel duo could be formidable. They will have to deliver in several areas if Europe is to seize this moment. The first is security: the European Union needs effective external borders. The second is fiscal: the euro in the long run can only function with fiscal consolidation. The third is growth: Europe is already stirring from stagnation but needs to create more jobs, and for that Macron’s planned labor-market reforms will be important. The fourth is solidarity: the free ride of countries like Hungary and Poland that benefit from vast European Union financial transfers but flout European values through their growing autocratic tendencies must be stopped. It’s simple: no free money without a free press and an independent judiciary.

Macron and Merkel are both passionate Europeans (as is the Social Democratic contender in Germany, Martin Schulz). Putin’s threats, Trump’s valueless American foreign policy, and Britain’s small-mindedness — alongside an economic recovery that is gathering steam — have created a unique opportunity to rekindle the dream of a federalizing Europe. It could be that 2017 will be the year of Europe.