Berlin Foreign Policy Forum
(Photo: Marc Darchinger)
“What Role for Germany and Europe in a New World Order?”
29 November 2011, Humboldt Carré, Berlin
“There can’t be a crisis next week. My schedule is already full.” Dr. Klaus Wehmeier, Vice chairman of the Executive Board of the Körber Foundation, opened the Berlin Foreign Policy Forum with a witty remark by former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger. But, he went on, even if people’s schedules are full, the world with all its hot spots will continue to rotate around its axis. Answers were needed for the European sovereign debt crisis, the upheavals in the Arab world, the conflict spawned by the Iranian nuclear programme, and for that matter for the new U.S. assertions of power in the Pacific. Wehmeier wanted to know what kind of role German and European foreign policy would play in the changing world order.
With the Berlin Foreign Policy Forum the Körber Foundation is hoping to create a venue that will enable experts and young Europeans to discuss numerous aspects of foreign policy issues in public. The 60th anniversary of the re-establishment of the Federal Foreign Office had been an appropriate occasion on which to initiate this forum. Wehmeier cited Kurt A. Körber, the founder of the foundation, who once said that it was always better to talk to people than about people, and added “After all, diplomats also believe in the power of dialogue.”
Pictures & Reports
Video of the complete Berlin Foreign Policy Forum, separated into four panels
Complete Summary (PDF)
Report 1:
“The EU is our life insurance policy.”
Germany’s foreign policy seen from a European perspective
Report 2:
“We need to become more open.”
How Europe can help the democrats in the Arab world
Report 3:
“Europe is no longer the centre of the world.”
The BRIC states and the new coordinates of globalization
Report 4:
“A country like any other country.”
What German soldiers are doing around the globe
Videos
Berliner Foreign Policy Forum 2011:
Video
Interviews
