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Press Release
from Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard Kennedy School

Harvard Kennedy School and the German Council on Foreign Relations Launch New Effort to Revive the Transatlantic Relationship

Published:

Cambridge, Massachusetts – The Project on Europe and the Transatlantic Relationship at Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs and the German Council on Foreign Relations (DGAP) are announcing a new strategy group: Reviving the Transatlantic Relationship: A New Strategy for the United States and Europe. The group is led by Ambassador Nicholas Burns, the Goodman Family Professor of the Practice of Diplomacy and International Relations at Harvard Kennedy School, with Dr. Daniela Schwarzer, Director of the German Council on Foreign Relations.

“This is the right time for Harvard and the German Council on Foreign Relations to initiate this strategy group," said Nicholas Burns. “Europe is our largest trade partner and investor in the American economy. NATO is the great power differential between the U.S. and Russia and the U.S. and China. The European Union remains our critical partner. The U.S., Canada, and Europe will be far stronger and effective in the world if we can revive our economic, military, and political ties.”

“The transatlantic alliance is being questioned on both sides of the Atlantic,” said Daniela Schwarzer. “Fresh ideas are needed to revive the relationship that will not revert to the status quo ante after the next U.S. elections. Close transatlantic cooperation remains of strategic importance at a time when Western democratic and economic systems are under increasing pressure, and the list of international challenges that deeply affect our societies is growing.”

The strategy group will bring together experts and former government officials from the U.S. and Europe to issue new and imaginative policies on how to address critical challenges, including a more assertive China and Russia, climate change, A.I. and emerging technologies, and a global trading system in flux, among other issues.

The group plans to release its findings in late-2020 with the publication of a major report.

Strategy group members include:

  • Nicholas Burns, Goodman Family Professor of the Practice of Diplomacy and International Relations at Harvard Kennedy School; Former Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs (2005-2008); Former U.S. Ambassador to NATO (2001-2005)
  • Daniela Schwarzer, Director of the German Council on Foreign Relations  
  • Josef Braml, Head of the USA/Transatlantic Relations Program at the German Council on Foreign Relations
  • Cathryn Clüver Ashbrook, Executive Director of the Future of Diplomacy Project and the Project on Europe and the Transatlantic Relationship at the Harvard Kennedy School
  • Anthony Gardner, Senior Advisor at the Brunswick Group; Former U.S. Ambassador to the European Union (2014-2017)
  • Thomas Gomart, Director of the French Institute of International Relations  
  • Christian Mölling, Director of Research of the German Council on Foreign Relations  
  • Victoria Nuland, Senior Counselor at the Albright Stonebridge Group and Non-Resident Senior Fellow at Harvard Kennedy School; Former Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs (2013-2017)
  • Kristi Raik, Director of the Estonian Foreign Policy Institute
  • David Sanger, Adjunct Lecturer in Public Policy at Harvard Kennedy School and Senior Fellow in the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs; National Security Correspondent at The New York Times
  • Amanda Sloat, Robert Bosch Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution and Non-Resident Fellow in the Project on Europe and the Transatlantic Relationship at the Harvard Kennedy School; Former Deputy Assistant Secretary for Southern Europe and Eastern Mediterranean Affairs (2013-2016)
  • Constanze Stelzenmüller, Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution and Kissinger Chair on Foreign Policy and International Relations at the Library of Congress  
  • Torrey Taussig, Research Director in the Project on Europe and the Transatlantic Relationship at Harvard Kennedy School and Non-Resident Fellow at the Brookings Institution. Dr. Taussig will guide the strategy group’s major report.

About the Project on Europe and the Transatlantic Relationship

The Project on Europe and the Transatlantic Relationship at Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs aims to strengthen the University’s capacities for teaching, research, and policy on the relationship between the United States and Europe. The program is designed to deepen a relationship that has – for over 70 years – served as an anchor of global order, driven the expansion of the world economy, provided peace and stability and reunited peoples once divided by war. In doing so, we hope to prepare a new generation of leaders on both sides of the Atlantic.

For more information, contact Torrey Taussig: Torrey_Taussig@hks.harvard.edu