October 8, 2020

Europe's foreign and security policy is facing completely new challenges - and there is widespread consensus on this on the European continent. However, Berlin and Paris in particular often disagree on priorities, individual diagnoses and concrete measures. While France has for some time also (but not exclusively) referred to the urgent need for greater strategic autonomy, Germany above all emphasizes that Europe's defense should primarily be deeply embedded in NATO as a transatlantic defense alliance. A common strategy to resolve this tension has not yet been developed.

Nevertheless: Cooperation between these two central states of the EU is of crucial importance for Europe's role in the world and remains a clear focus of attention in both countries, as the Aachen Treaty of 2019 has only recently highlighted again. What answers can Franco-German relations offer to questions of European security? What might a common foreign policy vision for Europe look like?

Webinar (Zoom)

Discussion with:

Dr. Claire Demesmay
Director of the France Program of the German Council on Foreign Relations (DGAP)

Brig-Gen Heinz Krieb
Permanent Representation of the Federal Republic of Germany to the EU

Adm aD Manfred Nielson
Former Deputy Supreme Allied Commander Transformation (NATO)

Moderation: Prof. Dr. Ulrich Schlie, Henry Kissinger Professor and Director of CASSIS