Debating Europe: Obama and the Europeans. What has changed?

• Alexandra Föderl-Schmid (Editor-in-Chief, Der Standard) – Bio

Speakers:

• Stanley Greenberg (Political scientist) – Bio
• Robert Kagan (US publicist and columnist, The Washington Post) – Bio
• Karel Schwarzenberg (former Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic; former President of the European Council) – Bio
• Michael Spindelegger (Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Austria) – Bio
• Ivan Vejvoda (Executive Director, Balkan Trust for Democracy) – Bio

Debating Europe/Europa im Diskurs

“Yes, we can!” Barack Obama triumphally exclaimed as the new US President elect in November 2008. With “change” as the keyword of his electoral campaign he had become the symbol of hope for millions to both sides of the Atlantic. Little more than a year later, many ask, “Can he?” With such problematic issues as the reform of US health care, the closing down of Guantánamo, battling the economic crisis, solving the Middle East conflict and global climate protection on his To Do list, it is a debatable point if he “can”. Upon being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize after only nine months in office even Barack Obama himself doubted that he deserved it, emphasising that he considered the award a call to action.

Vienna’s Burgtheater is the stage where US policy adviser Stanley Greenberg, Washington Post columnist Robert Kagan, Austria’s Minister for Foreign Affairs Michael Spindelegger, Czech politician Karel Schwarzenberg and Ivan Vejvoda from the German Marshall Fund discuss about “Obama and the Europeans – what has changed?”

(Presstext: http://www.iwm.at/)