Breakfast seminar: Meet the German and Norwegian Chiefs of Defence

Just days after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on February 24^th, 2022, German chancellor Olaf Scholz proclaimed the moment to be a Zeitenwende. The post-cold war era was over. Germany would have to rethink its foreign and energy policies, spend much more on defence and not be reluctant of showing leadership in Europe. Bundeswehr was promised a special fund of 100 billion Euros and annual defence budgets reaching 2 % of GDP. No chancellor since the Federal Republic’s birth in 1949 has made a speech quite like it.

One year later we evaluate the status of the Zeitenwende reforms and ask how far this paradigm shift will change German security and defence policies over the next few years, as well as what this means for the German-Norwegian security partnership. A partnership that has grown considerably both due to our common NATO operations in Afghanistan and Lithuania, our close cooperation in the German-Dutch corps and on procurements where both countries are purchasing identical submarines and Norway’s recent decision to buy German Leopard tanks. In a dedicated chapter on Germany, Norway’s new Defence Commission points out that Germany among other things is increasingly involved in securing our oil and gas installations and subsea cables and pipelines. They recommend that we should prioritise to develop the German-Norwegian cooperation further.

A light breakfast will be served before the seminar starts.
Welcome!