This conference sought to provide a platform for addressing critical issues on the security agenda at a time when Europe and the United States face a wide range of challenges. Geopolitical tensions and conflicts to the East and to the South of Europe pose difficult political choices and test transatlantic cohesion. Hybrid threats call for anticipation, calibrated responses and strategic resolve. Terrorism represents a direct threat to populations both in third countries and across Europe and the United States.

The transatlantic partners closely cooperate on a number of matters but relations between the United States and Europe have become more contested. Europeans and Americans need to strengthen their strategic dialogue, address their differences, define shared priorities and coordinate their initiatives. The European Union and NATO bring much-added value to these efforts and maximise the impact of joint action. This conference, part of a series of events organised in partnership with the US Mission to the EU, took a closer look at respective agendas and approaches in dealing with regional and transnational challenges, thereby contributing to a stronger transatlantic partnership that is fit for an increasingly complex world.

Speakers included: Fabian Zuleeg, Chief Executive, European Policy Centre, Whitney Baird, Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary, US Department of State, Giovanni Grevi, Senior Fellow, European Policy Centre, Alexander Vershbow, Distinguished Fellow, Brent Scowcroft Center on International Security, Atlantic Council and former Deputy Secretary General of NATO, Gustav Lindstrom, Director, EU Institute for Security Studies, Tomas Valasek, Director, Carnegie Europe, Roberta Bonazzi, Founder and President, European Foundation for Democracy, Matthew Levitt, Director, Stein Program for Counterterrorism and Intelligence, The Washington Institute for Near East Policy, Irfan Saeed, Director, Office of Countering Violent Extremism, Bureau of Counterterrorism and Countering Violent Extremism, State Department, Alexander Ritzmann, Senior Research Fellow, Brandenburg Institute for Society and Security (BIGS), Co-chair of the European Commission’s Radicalisation Awareness Network (RAN), Alexandra Antoniadis, Head of Sector, Fight against Terrorism: Prevention, European Commission, Rosa Balfour, Senior Fellow, German Marshall Fund of the US, Andrew J Tabler, Martin J. Gross Fellow, Program on Arab Politics, The Washington Institute for Near East Policy, Lina Khatib, Head of Middle East and North Africa programme, Chatham House, James Sherr, Associate Fellow, Russia and Eurasia Programme, Chatham House, Jeffrey Mankoff, Deputy Director and Senior Fellow Russia and Eurasia Program, CSIS, Paul Ivan, Senior Policy Analyst, European Policy Centre.

Videos of the conference are available here.