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.
On December 15, the ACG held a virtual conversation with Stefan Kornelius, the Political Editor of the Süddeutsche Zeitung, on his assessment of the first year of the new government.
On December 14, the ACG and 1014 hosted a discussion with Prof. Dr. Jutta Allmendinger, President of the WZB Berlin Social Science Center, and Dr. Adam Tooze, Shelby Cullom Davis Chair of History and Director of the European Institute at Columbia University; and moderated by journalist Ines Pohl, Washington bureau chief for Deutsche Welle. This discussion is part of the virtual series Democracies under Pressure: Challenges for the Global Liberal Order.
On December 12, the ACG and the German Embassy hosted a discussion with climate experts Jennifer Lee Morgan, State Secretary and Special Envoy for International Climate Action in the German Federal Foreign Office, and Dr. Jonathan Pershing, the Program Director of Environment at the Hewlett Foundation.
The ACG regularly hosts a discussion with a journalist based in Germany on the topics making the headlines and shaping political discourse. On December 12, hosted a Kaffeepause with Marina Kormbaki, Journalist for Der Spiegel.
On December 7, the ACG and 1014, as part of their virtual series Democracies under Pressure: Challenges for the Global Liberal Order, spoke with Sinologists Dr. Kristin Shi-Kupfer, Professor of Sinology at the University of Trier and a Senior Associate Fellow at MERICS, and Yun Sun, Senior Fellow and Co-Director of the East Asia Program and Director of the China Program at the Stimson Center, about German and American perspectives on the complex relationship with China.