German Politics Today: Meet a Bundestag Member Webinar
Read more about the series and and register here!
Background
The American Council on Germany (ACG), the American Association of Teachers of German (AATG), and the German Studies Association (GSA) are working together to jointly promote the value of the German-American partnership and reach a wider collective audience.
On September 16, we are pleased to speak with the German Government's Coordinator of Transatlantic Cooperation: Metin Hakverdi.
The transatlantic partnership is a key pillar of Germany’s foreign policy. The United States and Canada are Germany’s closest allies outside Europe. Large areas of common interests, shared challenges and fundamental values form a bond between our democracies on both sides of the Atlantic. How close transatlantic relations are is clear also from the multitude of societal and cultural contacts between Germany and the United States and Germany and Canada. Promoting these ties in the long term is the task of the Coordinator of Transatlantic Cooperation. Metin Hakverdi assumed office as the new Coordinator on 28 May 2025.
The office of Coordinator of German-American Cooperation was created as far back as 1981; it was later renamed and expanded to comprise cooperation with Canada. Germany’s Coordinators have included former Minister of State Hildegard Hamm-Brücher; political scientist Prof. Werner Weidenfeld, currently at LMU Munich; Member of the Bundestag Peter Beyer and, most recently, Member of the Bundestag Michael Link.
Goal:
The American Council on Germany (ACG), the American Association of Teachers of German (AATG), and the German Studies Association (GSA) have collaborated sporadically over the years and are now jointly collaborating on a program to promote the value of the German-American partnership and reach a wider collective audience.
The three organizations are introducing a new virtual series entitled “German Politics Today: Meet a Bundestag Member” that would consist of three ACG-moderated discussions, in German, with members of the German Bundestag on issues ranging from the transatlantic relationship and German reunification to citizen engagement. The goal of the series is to engage younger Americans enrolled in German language programs and other German studies students, to inform them about current issues in Germany, and to give them an opportunity to utilize their German listening, writing, and speaking skills as part of their German language courses in high school and college.