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.
Each week, the ACG hosts a discussion with a journalist on the topics making the headlines and shaping political discourse in Germany. On February 22, the ACG hosted a Kaffeepause on the Munich Security Conference and more with the Political Editor of the Süddeutsche Zeitung, Stefan Kornelius.
On February 17, the ACG hosted a discussion comparing the U.S. Supreme Court with the German Federal Constitutional Court with Caroline Fredrickson, Senior Fellow at the Brennan Center for Justice and a Visiting Professor at Georgetown Law School, and Russell Miller, Head of the Max Planck Law Network and J.B. Stombock Professor of Law at Washington and Lee University.
On February 14, the American Council on Germany hosted a discussion with three Bundestag members about how the government and the parliament work together and set their priorities for the coming years. Speakers included Dorothee Martin (SPD), Frank Müller-Rosentritt (FDP), and Dr. Konstantin von Notz (Greens).
In February of 1992, 12 European countries signed the Maastricht Treaty, paving the way to the creation of the European Union. On February 11, the ACG hosted a discussion on the relevance of the EU with Dr. Ulrike Guérot, Faculty Chair of European Politics at the Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität in Bonn and founder of the European Democracy Lab in Berlin.
Concerns continue to mount regarding the build-up of Russian forces along the border with Ukraine. After Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s trip to Washington and before the Munich Security Conference, on February 10, the ACG and the New York Office of the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung hosted a discussion with Bundestag Member Nils Schmid (SPD) about German and European leadership in the face of the unfolding crisis.