The spread of COVID-19 and the ensuing global lock-down as governments try to slow the spread of the corona virus has tested individuals and institutions around the world. Since March of 2020, the ACG has stepped up its digital programming by hosting webinars and video discussions which bring together policy makers and thought leaders from both sides of the Atlantic to discuss some of the key issues shaping transatlantic relations in an unprecedented time. In addition to organizing events on its own, the ACG has also partnered with other organizations such as 1014 and Atlantik-Brücke to launch new series designed to reach beyond the ACG community.
The ACG and the Tennessee World Affairs Council continued their series of virtual events titled “In Focus: Russia’s War in Ukraine” with a discussion on October 10 that included security experts Dr. Liana Fix, CFR Fellow for Europe, and Lieutenant General (ret.) Ben Hodges, former Commanding General of the United States Army Europe, about the war in Ukraine.
The ACG regularly hosts a discussion with a journalist based in Germany on the topics making the headlines and shaping political discourse. On October 10, the ACG hosted a Kaffeepause with Gordon Repinski, Deputy Editor-in-Chief at ThePioneer.
On October 5 the ACG partnered with the Aspen Institute Germany to host the sixth discussion in this series focused on affordable housing and urban development at the state-level in both countries. The discussion included three German and American state legislators: Dr. Anke Frieling (CDU), Hamburg Parliament; Mathias Schulz (SPD), Berlin House of Representatives; and Marvin E. Holmes, Jr. (D), Maryland House of Delegates.
The ACG regularly hosts a discussion with a journalist based in Germany on the topics making the headlines and shaping political discourse. On October 4, the ACG hosted a Kaffeepause with Bloomberg Opinion columnist Andreas Kluth.
On September 30, the ACG hosted a virtual discussion with two award-winning journalists who grew up in the former GDR about the “parallel societies” that have developed in contemporary Germany. Both from the Free State of Saxony, Vladimir Balzer grew up in Leipzig and is with Deutschlandfunk, and Anja Heyde was born in Leisnig and is a well-known television host and journalist.