BRUSSELS – Under the theme of the End of Complacency – Era of Action?, GMF’s Brussels Forum, the signature conference of The German Marshall Fund of the United States (GMF), will convene at the Steigenberger Hotel in Brussels March 23-25.
The key speakers at this year’s Forum are Caroline Atkinson, Head of Global Public Policy, Google, Carl Bildt, Co-Chair of European Council on Foreign Relations; former Prime Minister of Sweden, Iain Conn, CEO, Centrica, Douglas Carswell, Member of Parliament, UKIP, U.K. House of Commons, Frank Friedman, Global COO, Deloitte, Rose Gottemoeller, Deputy Secretary General, NATO, Jane Harman, Director, President, and CEO, Wilson Center, Mikheil Janelidze, Foreign Minister, Georgia, Ron Johnson, Senator, United States, Kersti Kaljulaid, President of Estonia, Julian King, Commissioner for the Security Union, European Commission, Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze, Vice Prime Minister, Ukraine, Peter Mandelson, Former Member of Parliament, Labour, United Kingdom; European Commissioner for Trade (2004-2008), James Manyika, Director, McKinsey Global Institute, John McCain, Senator, United States, Wilfried Porth, Board of Management, Daimler AG, Nicolas Rasmussen, Director, U.S. National Counterterrorism Center, Norbert Röttgen, Chairman, German Bundestag Committee on Foreign Affairs, Dev Sanyal, Chief Executive of Alternative Energy and Executive Vice President of Europe and Asia Regions, BP, Helga Schmid, Secretary General, European External Action Service, Wendy Sherman, Senior Fellow, Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Darius Skusevicius, Deputy Foreign Minister, Lithuania, Brad Smith, President and Chief Legal Officer, Microsoft, Frans Timmermans, First Vice President, European Commission, Guy Verhofstadt, Leader of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Group, European Parliament; former Prime Minister of Belgium.
GMF’s Brussels Forum theme is End of Complacency – Era of Action? The transatlantic alliance and its partners find themselves at a crossroads. The continuing flow of refugees and migrants to Europe, as well as the U.K.’s vote to leave the European Union are challenging the closest allies of the United States. Both sides of the Atlantic are struggling with uneven economic growth, inequality, terrorist threats, a revanchist Russia, and an unstable Middle East. This, combined with rapid social and technological change, is fueling uncertainty, frustration, and inward-looking sentiments on both sides of the Atlantic.