Tiergarten Conference 2019

Saving global governance from geopolitics

Social democratic orientation for a world adrift

These are testing times for progressive diplomacy: Multilateralism is under stress, nationalism on the rise and unilateral actions frequently breach the Charta of the United Nations (UN) and international treaties. With the recently established “Alliance for Multilateralism” the initiators and signatories seek to save international responsibility, partnership and cooperation from national ignorance, regional hegemony and great power politics. The members of the informal alliance are united in their “conviction that a rules-based multilateral order is the only reliable guarantee for international stability and peace”.

Next year one of the founding members of the “Alliance for Multilateralism”, Germany, will be uniquely positioned to strengthen multilateral politics. By assuming the Presidency of the Council of the European Union in the second half of 2020 and by still being a non-permanent member in the UN Security Council Germany can make important contributions to shape the Common Foreign and Security Policy of the European Union (EU) and to strengthen the UN peace and security architecture. Germany’s partners and international civil society will expect the government to deliver on its promises.

Germany’s foreign and security policy agenda 2020, the “Alliance for Multilateralism” and the role of the internationalist progressive movement are at the heart of the Tiergarten Conference 2019. Policy-makers from the social democratic and progressive party family are invited to share their ideas on how to defend multilateral action in the fields of European and international peace and security. We want to discuss how German social democracy jointly with its partners should make use of its prominent position in the EU and at the UN to advance the “Alliance for Multilateralism” – both within EU foreign and security policy structures and processes and within the UN system. Most importantly, the conference aims at sketching out a progressive approach to foreign and security policy to counter recurring geopolitical posturing of great and regional powers.

The Tiergarten Conference is the annual Foreign and Security Policy conference of the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung. The first part of the conference is open to the public and the media and the second part will be held under Chatham House Rule with invited guests only. A simultaneous English-German / German-English translation of the entire conference will be provided.

Tweets from the public session are most welcome: #TGK19

The conference will be held in German and English. German-English translation will be available.

Program

First part: Keynote Speeches

Opening and Registration with Photo ID

Conference Hall, House 1

Words of welcome

by the Chairman of Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung Kurt Beck, former Prime Minister of Rhineland-Palatinate

An agenda for peace and security? Priorities for a social democratic foreign policy for the European Union and the United Nations

Federal Minister for Foreign Affairs of Germany
H.E. Heiko Maas MP

Changing of venues and Coffee/Tea Break

Second part: Symposium (On personal invitation only, Chatham House Rule)

Conference Hall, House 2

Setting the Stage

Your views on EU and global affairs

Panel 1: An EU foreign and security policy we want

Discussing strategy, instruments and resources for a social democratic agenda in 2020 and beyond

Niels Annen MP, Minister of State, Federal Foreign Office, Germany
Hélène Conway-Mouret, Vice-President of the Senate, France
Lia Quartapelle MP, Member of the Chamber of Deputies of the Italian Parliament
Karin Wallensteen, State Secretary to Prime Minister Stefan Löfven, Sweden
Moderator: Catrina Schläger, FES Berlin

Lunch Break

Panel 2: Social democracy as a global political force?

Fostering partnerships for peace and security

Ariel Bergamino, Vice Minister, Ministry of Foreign Relations, Uruguay
Fabrizio Hochschild Drummond, UN Assistant Secretary-General and UN Special Advisor to Secretary-General António Guterres
Nils Schmid MP, Spokesman on Foreign Affairs of the SPD Parliamentary Group in the Bundestag
Jenny Wai Ching Kwan MP, House of Commons Canada
Liew Chin Tong MP, Deputy Defense Minister, Malaysia
Moderator: Valeska Hesse, FES Berlin

Final observations and comment

Gabriela Heinrich MP, Vice-Chairman of the SPD parliamentary group in the Bundestag

End of Conference

Focus

Peace and Security

More Information about our Work on Peace and Security more

Retrospective

Tiergarten Conference 2018

The Future of the Nuclear Order

more

Tiergarten Conference 2017

Crisis of Multilateralism?

more

Venue

Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung
Hiroshimastr. 17 (Haus1)
Hiroshimastr. 28 (Haus 2)
10785 Berlin

Anfahrtsinformationen


About the Tiergarten Conference

With its annual Conference at the Tiergarten, the FES has since 2012 beein aiming to address and highlight new trends in international affairs. Drawing on its extensive global network of offices in around 100 countries, the FES seeks to facilitate dialogue between decision-makers, decision-shapers and decision-takers from around the world on some of the key topics of our times.

While FES’s international activities usually proceed without too much publicity, the Tiergarten conference is meant to combine an in-depth expert conference with a wider outreach to the public. To this end, a live debate between Members of Parliament, experts and civil society will bring the crucial questions of global governance and international politics to the attention of a broader German audience at the end of the conference.

The Tiergarten – A Venue for International Affairs and home of FES’s International Headquarters.