As part of our NRW tour with former Members of the U.S. Congress Mike Capuano and Fred Upton, we are happy to also make a stop in Cologne. Together with our partners, we cordially invite you to join us to a discussion with:

On November 5, 2024, in an election widely seen as pivotal for the United States and the world, Donald Trump won the White House for a second time and Republicans won control of both chambers of Congress. One year later, we analyze the domestic and foreign policy shifts the Trump Administration has implemented with rapid speed. How do voters perceive the administration's course and what is the mood in the country? What does the United States' changed posture on the global stage spell for the liberal international order it helped create after World War II? And how should Germany and Europe react? We look forward to discussing these and other questions with:

Congressman Mike Capuano is an attorney who served in the U.S. Congress from 1999 to 2019, representing first the 8th and later the 7th District of Massachusetts. He served on the Financial Services Committee and the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee and chaired several subcommittees. In 2007, Mike authored the bill that created the Office of Congressional Ethics. He founded the Congressional Caucus on Sudan and South Sudan and the Community Health Center Caucus. Prior to Congress, Mike served nine years as the mayor of his hometown, Somerville, MA, where he enacted environmental reforms, reduced crime, lowered class sizes, instituted an affirmative action plan, and appointed women to lead more than half the city’s departments. Mike currently works at the law firm Venable LLP. He is also a Presidential appointee to the Public Buildings Reform Board. Mike graduated from Dartmouth College and Boston College Law School. He met his wife, Barbara, at Somerville High. They have two adult sons.

Congressman Fred Upton was proud to represent the common-sense values of Southwest Michigan’s 6th Congressional District for 36 years. From 2010 to 2016, he was selected by his House colleagues to serve as Chairman of the pivotal Committee on Energy and Commerce. Fred strongly supports an ‘All-of-the-Above’ energy strategy that focuses on American energy development, emerging clean energy technologies, and traditional energy. He has long been an advocate for a greater emphasis on biomedical research to improve public health and, in 2014, launched the bipartisan 21st Century Cures initiative. As an active member of the Great Lakes Task Force, Fred has an extensive, bipartisan record working to protect the Great Lakes, which has earned him a local and national reputation. Prior to his election to Congress, he worked for President Ronald Reagan in the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). Fred holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Michigan. He and his wife, Amey, have two adult children.

Dr. Joseph Verbovszky is Head of the Security Policy Working Group and Head of the Berlin Forum of the Young German Council on Foreign Relations (DGAP). Additionally, he serves as Co-Director of the German Wargaming Center and Research Fellow at the Defense AI Observatory (DAIO), both at the Chair of Political Theory at Helmut Schmidt University / University of the Federal Armed Forces Hamburg. He previously earned his doctorate at the University of the Federal Armed Forces Munich on the topic of German Structural Pacifism and worked for various defense companies in the areas of international cooperation and strategic analysis. He completed his Master’s degree in International Relations at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS).

PLEASE REGISTER HERE!

This event will be held in English. Tickets are limited and will be allocated on a first come, first served basis. We kindly ask you to only reserve the number of tickets that you will definitely use.

In cooperation with the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Auswärtige Politik (DGAP) and The U.S. Association of Former Members of Congress.