Panel Discussion: The State of Transatlantic Relations and the European Union

When: October 31, 2018 6:00 - 9:00 PM
Who: Otmar Karas (former Vice-President of the European Parliament), Robert Walker (Former House Republican Chief Deputy Whip), David O’Sullivan (Ambassador of the European Union to the United States of America),
Stuart E. Eizenstat (Former U.S. Ambassador to the European Union)

With all its imperfections yet unprecedented economic success, the European Union stands out as the most successful peace project in the world, ever since allowing the United States and Europe to unite in their quest for freedom, peace, and prosperity.

Austria: The First Victim?

When: October 29, 2018, 7:00 PM
Who: Hannah Lessing (Secretary General of the Austrian National Fund for the Victims of National Socialism)

A common stereotype among some self-proclaimed experts of Austrian contemporary history, justified merely by repetition of their mantra is that “contrary to Germany, Austria has never done anything to live up to the role of Austrians in the machinery of the 3rd Reich.”

The Cunning of History: The Politics of Today and the Austro-Hungarian Empire of the Past

When: May 11, 2018
Who: Leon Botstein
(President of Bard College and Board Chairman of Central European University)

Botstein’s talk opened with a fascinating presentation of the cultural state of play during the Belle Époque in Vienna, focused on the achievements of Botstiber’s father Hugo as a co-founder of the Vienna Konzerthaus, a secessionist movement aiming at organizing classical concerts for the masses to counterbalance the elitist Musikverein and its prohibitive musical subscription system.

Book Presentation: The Marshall Plan - Since 1947

When: May 9, 2018
Who: Professor Guenter Bischof (University of New Orleans), International Security Professor Audrey Kurth Cronin

Professor Guenter Bischof, Director of the Austrian Marshall Plan Center for European Studies at the University of New Orleans, presented the book The Marshall Plan - Since 1947. Saving Europe, Rebuilding Austria, co-authored with Dr. Hans Petschar of the Austrian National Library, at the Austrian Embassy in Washington, DC on May 9, 2018.

The Meaning of the Marshall Plan for Today

When:  April, 2018 2:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Who: Dr. Daniel Hamilton (Johns Hopkins University SAIS), Dr. Benn Steil (Council on Foreign Relations), Henne Schuwer (Ambassador of the Kingdom of the Netherlands), Peter Wittig (Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany), David O’Sullivan (Ambassador of the European Union), A. Wess Mitchell (Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs)

In June 1947, Secretary of State George C. Marshall offered assistance to Europe in a speech he delivered at Harvard University. When his idea for European recovery following the devastation of World War II was accepted quickly by European leaders, Marshall campaigned tirelessly for popular and Congressional support for the program that became known as the Marshall Plan.

Panel Discussion: UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons

When: March 22, 2018, 6:30 PM
Who: Anita Friedt (Acting Assistant Secretary, Department of State), Heinz Gaertner (Austrian Marshall Plan Foundation Fellow), Daryl Kimball (Executive Director, Arms Control Association) Mallory Stewart (Nonresident Fellow at the Stimson Center and Sandia National Labs)

On March 22, an eminent and well balanced panel of experts from Austria and the U.S. discussed the UN Nuclear Ban Treaty at the Austrian Embassy. The treaty was negotiated and finalized in record time last year.

The Authoritarian Temptation

When:  March 14, 2018, 12:30 PM
Who: Professor Paul Lendvai

Professor Paul Lendvai, Austrian media veteran and refugee from the failed anti-communist uprising in Budapest/Hungary in 1956 - a fate he shares with the host of the event, Charles Gati, Senior Research Professor of European and Eurasian Studies at SAIS - spoke at Johns Hopkins. Lendvai looked at the present temptation of authoritarianism in Central and Eastern Europe less than 30 years after the fall of the Iron Curtain.

The Austrian EU-Presidency - The Security and Military Perspective

When:  March 7, 2018, 1:00 PM – 2:30 PM EST
Who:  Brigadier General Reinhard Trischak

On the heels of the second U.S. - Austrian political-military talks, Austrian Brigadier General Reinhard Trischak kicked off the month with a comprehensive presentation on the security and military perspectives of the upcoming Austrian EU-Presidency on March 6, 2018 at Johns Hopkins University's School for Advanced International Studies (SAIS).

Panel Discussion:  The Concept of Neutrality and East-Central Europe

When: February 26, 2018 10:00 a.m. - 11:30 a.m.
Who: P. Terrence Hopmann (Conflict Management at Johns Hopkins University SAIS), Michael E. O'Hanlon (Foreign Policy at Brookings Institution), Heinz Gaertner (Fellow at CTR, Johns Hopkins University SAIS, University of Vienna), Mykola Vorobiov (Fellow at CTR, Johns Hopkins University SAIS, Ukraine)

In his new Brookings Marshall Paper, Michael E. O'Hanlon argues that it is time for Western nations to negotiate a new security architecture for neutral countries in Eastern Europe, in order to stabilize the region and reduce the risks of war with Russia.