GPA Strategist Hour: Zeitenwende 2.0 and what Germany and Europe must do now

International Times: Wednesday 18 February 2026 | 9–10am (EST, Washington D.C.) / 2–3pm (GMT, London) / 3–4pm (CET, Berlin)

This year’s first GPA Strategist Hour will focus on geopolitics and feature Wolfgang Schmidt, Amanda Sloat, Gerald Butts and Cathryn Clüver Ashbrook.

The 62nd Munich Security Conference is unfolding at a moment of geopolitical rupture. With the international order reshaping, the White House now frames Europe less as a natural ally and more as a civilization in crisis. 

For the European, this rupture poses a strategic dilemma: how to manage declining U.S. security guarantees while accelerating strategic autonomy. Expectations are high that Germany’s coalition governement under Chancellor Friedrich Merz and Vice-Chancellor Lars Klingbeil will turn ambition into sustained leadership and articulate a credible European alternative to America First.

As the dust settles on the Bavarian capital, we want to look beyond the diplomatic noise and take stock: How do Germany and Europe rethink power, security, and progressive strategy? Has the conference signaled that Germany and its closest allies are prepared to forge a collective strategic mindset? What is holding back the shift from rhetoric to action? And how can the European turn Mark Carney’s watershed appeal at Davos into a blueprint for a new multilateral order of „Middle Powers“? 

Join us for our first GPA Strategist Hour in 2026 on Zeitenwende 2.0 and what Germany and Europe must do now, featuring:

• Scene-setting: Wolfgang Schmidt, former Head of the German Federal Chancellery and Federal Minister for Special Tasks under Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD)
• Responses by: 
  • Amanda Sloat, Professor of Practice at the School of Politics, Economics and Global Affairs IE University, former Special Assistant to President Joe Biden and Senior Director for Europe at the National Security Council
  • Gerald Butts, Vice Chairman of Eurasia Group and former Principal Secretary to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau 

The debate will be moderated by Cathryn Clüver Ashbrook, Executive Vice President at Bertelsmann Stiftung and member of the Scientific Council at Das Progressive Zentrum.

Please note that the conversation will follow Chatham House Rules.

The event is a cooperation between the Center for American Progress Action and Das Progressive Zentrum.

If you are interested in this invite-only-event, please contact us via events@progressives-zentrum.org

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Florian Ranft

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