30 US and German Fellows, who were selected through an essay competition, collaborated in working groups to write policy memos on the entire transatlantic agenda: Defense, trade, populism, migration, integration & development policy, climate change & energy policy, education, tech policy and a new narrative for transatlantic relations.
The Fellows travelled together to Hamburg, Dresden and Berlin to learn more about Germany’s economy, military, domestic and international policies. They received briefings by military and political decision-makers, experts and civil society leaders and also shared their policy ideas and received feedback. The program below links to reports and photos from those meetings. We received very positive feedback from Fellows and speakers.
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SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2017 – HAMBURG
Getting to know each other. Informal discussion of transatlantic relations.
7:00 PM: Welcome Dinner.
MONDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 2017 – HAMBURG
Topics: Education, Defense, Foreign, Development and Climate Policies
Helmut Schmidt University (HSU), University of the Federal Armed Forces Hamburg
9:00 AM: Lieutenant Colonel Michael Hülcher: Welcome and presentation of higher education in the German military.
9:30 AM: First Internal Session on the Foundations of transatlantic relations. Report
1:00 PM: Dr Martin Nassua, Director of Academic Exchanges at the HSU, and Professor Dr. Klaus Beckmann, Director of the HSU Center for Scientific Further Education. Report and photos.
2:00 PM: Second Internal Session: Presentation Training.
3:30 PM: Captain Klasing and six HSU students. Report and photos.
Bundeswehr Command and Staff College
6:00 PM: Rear Admiral Carsten Stawitzki, Commandant of Bundeswehr Command and Staff College.
7:30 PM: Niels Annen, Member of the German Parliament, Foreign Policy Spokesperson of the SPD Parliamentary Group.
8:00 PM: Reception and dinner with the Rear Admiral Stawitzki, Nils Annen, officers of the Command and Staff College and and participants of the general staff course.
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 2017 – HAMBURG-DRESDEN
Topics: Business, Trade, Digitalization, Climate & Energy policy
Eurogate, Europe’s leading shipping line-independent container terminal operator.
9:30 AM: Gunther Bonz, Executive Director of Eurogate. Report and photos.
11:50 AM: Sightseeing by boat and on foot: Harbor, Landungsbrücken, Speicherstadt, Elbphilharmonie, Binnenalster. Photos.
M.M. Warburg & Co.
2:30 PM: Dr. Henneke Lütgerath and Dr. Christian Jasperneite, Partner and Chief Investment Officer. Report and photos.
4:30 PM: Transport to Dresden by bus.
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 1, 2017 – DRESDEN
Topics: Populism, Migration, Integration, Welcome Culture, Education, Economic Innovation
9:00 AM: Sightseeing, incl the Church of Our Lady (Frauenkirche). Photos.
State Chancellery of Saxony
12:00 PM: Dr. Fritz Jaeckel, Chief of the State Chancellery and State Minister for Federal and European Affairs, Thomas Horn, Director of International Relations, Marion Gündel, International Relations Officer. Report and Photos.
2:00 PM: Annegret Schlurecke and Dr. Eva Sturm, “DRESDEN – Place to be! e. V.“. Report and photos.
2:45 PM: Professor Dr. Werner Patzelt, Technical University of Dresden. Report and photos.
Responsible Reception Facility for Asylum Seekers (Erstaufnahmeeinrichtung).
4:00 PM: Peter Darmstadt, Leiter der Abteilung Asyl und Ausländerrecht, Landesdirektion Sachsen. Report
“Altes Wettbüro” Restaurant
6:30 PM: Third Internal Session. Report and Photos.
THURSDAY, MARCH 2, 2017 – DRESDEN-BERLIN
Topics: Tech Policy, Defense, Education, Economic, Development and Climate Policy
8:55 AM: Transport to Berlin by train.
Bundestag
12:00 PM: Meeting with parliamentary staffers chaired by Henning Speck from the office of the German Government’s Coordinator for Transatlantic Cooperation, Jürgen Hardt. Names of all staffers in the report with photos.
1:30 PM: Michael Nowak, Policy Planning Staff of the Federal Foreign Office, and Dr. George Schulze Zumkley, Department for Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) in the Federal Foreign Office. Report and photos.
US Embassy
2:50 PM: Alejandro “Hoot” Baez, Acting Political Section Chief; Scott Robinson, Deputy Cultural Affairs Officer; and Craig T. Pike, First Secretary for Economic Policy. Report and photos.
Allianz Forum
3:20 PM: Design Thinking Workshop with Marlen Klaws and and Moritz Ettl from WeQ, SAP School of Design Thinking. Report and Photos.
Soho Haus
7:30 PM: Dr. Klaus Scharioth, former German Ambassador to the United States and State Secretary of the German Foreign Office and currently Dean of the Mercator College for International Affairs in Germany. Christoph von Marshall, Tagesspiegel Correspondent in the United States. Report and photos.
The photos for all session can also be viewed on Flickr.
The Fellows have used the input and feedback they received during the study trip to revise their memos:
A New Narrative for the Transatlantic Relationship
TTIP: The Name May Be Dead, But Transatlantic Trade Is Not
Bridging the Atlantic: Exchanging Ideas and People Towards a New Education Agenda
Sharing Standards and Values in Development, Refugee, and Integration Policy
Toward a Decentralized Framework for Climate Engagement
Re-strengthening the Transatlantic Security Alliance
Technology as the Driver for Transatlantic Collaboration
Afterwards the Fellows edited and merged these Memos into a single Atlantic Memo: Transatlantic Relations in a New Era: The Next Generation’s Approach. The next group of Fellows from the second Atlantic Expedition to Chicago and Houston will build on this work and create an Atlantic Action Plan.
The Atlantische Initiative’s project Atlantic Expedition is made possible by financial contributions from the Transatlantic Program of the Federal Republic of Germany with Funds through the European Recovery Program (ERP) of the Federal Ministry for Economics and Energy (BMWi), the Friede Springer Foundation, the Konrad-Adenauer-Foundation, Microsoft and the Haniel Foundation.
