Lena Ebner: the end of the E.U. and the briefly-revived Western European Union saw Germany become the uneasy steward of the remainder of the Continent not gripped by romantic nationalist revivals. Slavic resurgence to the east, Mediterranean neo-Romanism under the Gallic-Ibero menace from the Azores to Cyprus, and trade warrior Norse reenactors encircling the North Sea: all brought down the old order. As the final defender of self-proclaimed reasonable rule, the German government fought fragmentation for the first few decades with a series of failed military interventions. After these failed bids for unity, Germany finally decided that playing at being the region's remaining hegemon was a thankless task, and that if you can't beat 'em, outlive 'em. Choosing to preserve what outsiders dubbed "Centuropa", or simply Middle-Europe, the government in Berlin declared war on ecological devastation.

The Umweltverschmutzungkrieg became the obsession of German society, mandating not only restrictive environmental standards and harsh punitive measures on polluters, but the end to many major subsidies that had previously kept "dirty industries" and non-compliant corporations afloat. These policies, seen by the government as the only salvation for climate change, were decried by critics as "Green Austerity" and denounced as the death knell for the nation's economy. And so it was for a time. De-growth proved in some ways to be as radically devastating as romantic nationalism was abroad (or in the nation's distant past), but Germany clung to it with the same fervor as the Mediterraneans did to their precious Canon or the English to their Newe Moots.

As German politics submerged into environmentalism from the radical Smaragd Linke red-green alliance to the reactionary Frieden Feld eco-nationalists, a new movement arose. Die Institut für Naturtechnologien, Erde Gedeihen, Rache der Idealistische Nationen (Institute of Natural Technologies, Earth Flourishing, and Idealistic National Revengeance), or INTEGRIN, arose as an alliance of STEM workers, human rights activists, and opportunistic politicians. They challenged the Green Austerity policies that had run Middle-Europe for over the past decade not as going too far, but not far enough. They approved of Germany's leadership in clamping down on pollution, but rejected de-growth as a pernicious policy that reduced the living standards of the people and created a underclass of those who could not afford to follow ecotopian regulations.

Championed by environmental rights lawyer Lena Ebner, the movement appealed to radicals with its concern for the dispossessed, both Centuropans at home and new immigrants from distant storm-wrecked shores and drought-struck deserts. Ebner herself led mass rallies and demonstrations speaking on behalf of Middle-Europe's need to acknowledge its past sins for taking part in the salting of the earth, and to "finalize decolonization" by not only embracing climate refugees but learning from them the techniques necessary to survive.

They appealed to nationalists on the other side by using German and Middle-Europe's green identity as a cudgel against Mediterranean profligacy, Norse mercurial aggression, and Russian expansionism. And to those in the stolid center, INTEGRIN preached responsibility and emphasized clean tech and green tech to terraform the Earth back to livable conditions, increasing standards of living for Germany and her allies. Ebner was crucial in this three-pronged approach, leading rights campaigns in favor of international "climate victims", making revanchist speeches against the depredations of the rapacious foes of Middle-Europe, and playing the nation's own legal system to their advantage to woo high-tech interests. A former ecological engineer before she entered the law, Ebner welcomed bioengineering startups and next-gen material science combines to Germany, seeking to rebuild the country's economic competitive edge.

Upon gaining power, the movement's accomplishments included the reforesting of the Rhine basin, creating a verdant throwback to preindustrial eras. The new government elevated life sciences, inspiring a new generation of German biologists, geoengineers, and the natural philosopher-moralists who accompanied their work. And it appealed to green businesses, encouraging corporations to self-regulate for the common good. "The people and nature can proper together" was a slogan of the time.

While Ebner never sought formal leadership, always preferring to fight in the trenches, she became one of INTEGRIN's evangelists, touring both Germany and the neighboring nations, planting new chapters that grew into fully-fledged local parties wherever she went. Ebner proved to be instrumental in cultivating the INTEGRIN franchise in Poland, her mother's homeland, where her linguistic fluency and charm won over the local population.

Later when she was appointed head of INTEGRIN's foreign relations, Ebner visited the other remaining allies in Middle-Europe: Austria, Hungary, Romania, the few countries in the Balkans or Central Europe that resisted the seductive wiles of the Mediterranean States and the romanticism of the Russian Republic, the fiercely independent new nation of Free Scotland (still grateful for Continental support for their independence), and finally Finland (playing a balancing act between the Russians and the new Norse). Thanks to her efforts, they signed on to INTEGRIN's transmodernist program, forming a "Green Front" that held together where the various defunct EU's could not.

At the same time, Ebner continued to lambaste the Mediterranean States for their relative inaction against rising sea levels, neglectful response to famine in their North African territories, and abortive attempts to dam the Gibraltar. Allying with Centuropan military commanders still angry about the country's defeat in the War of Belgian Dissolution, she attacked the NRA for refusing to shoulder its fair share of climate victims, and for relying on technology that merely adapted to the worsening environment rather than trying to undo their past sins. Both sides of the Channel were neo-imperialists, she claimed. Her targets did not take her barbs lightly. Critics both outside Germany and within accused Ebner as a trivial clown, making desperate insults and wild accusations. Others went further and accused INTEGRIN of openly fomenting "jingoism in ecologist clothing."

Against the risen Russian Republic, Ebner took a softer, more measured line - she praised that country's ability to unite so many people and embrace diversity, despite lacking democracy. Through her initiatives, Germany and Russia made meaningful effort towards joint environmental preservation efforts of the few remaining wildlife habitats, offering Middle-Europe tech for certain cursory reforms. By the end of her tenure, nascent INTEGRIN parties had sprung up in the Russosphere from the Russian-aligned Slavic nations in the Balkans to the frigid frontier of Novo-Arkhangelsk. For these efforts and her media-mugging forward-thinking humanism, Lena Ebner was recognized by U.N. officials who approached her for a role in the Unity project.

Notes:

Since SMAC didn't mention what was going on there besides Skye's (Free) Scotland and Zakharov's Russia, I ported over C:BE's Europe and gave it my own spin. I personally find INTEGR and Lena's lore to be pretty confusedly-written, just a bunch of dry meaningless jargon instead of actual world-building. (The mention of Ebner being Élodie's cousin is also such a random twist.) So I tried to give a little more detail about why the Europeans are divided into separate "civs."

I came up with their name by mucking about with the original INTEGR acronym and settled upon one that is the capitalized version of a real-world biological term. I figured having German names for anatomy in all caps gives a faction a lot of SEELE, so long as you have the NERV for it.