ESI at the ECFR Council meeting in Madrid - "Overcoming Europe's 20-year crisis"

Martti Ahtisaari – George Soros – Cem Özdemir

As one of its founding members Gerald Knaus joined the 6th Council Meeting of the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR) in Madrid on 6-7 November 2009. He spoke on a panel on "Building a new Europe for a multi-polar world" together with Mark Leonard, Executive Director of ECFR, Dominique Moisi, Senior Adviser at IFRI, and Antonio Vitorino, Lawyer and former EU Commissioner. The panel focussed on the current and future challenges for European foreign policy combined with a debate on the post-Lisbon institutional architecture.

The ECFR is to promote a more integrated European foreign policy in support of shared European interests and values. With a policy team in seven capitals – London, Paris, Berlin, Rome, Sofia, Madrid and Warsaw – it unites some of the continent's most distinguished researchers and analysts to promote Europe's role in the world.

Other participants of the Council Meeting included, among others, Martti Ahtisaari (Finland) - Chairman of the Board, Crisis Management Initiative; former President, Emma Bonino (Italy) - Vice President of the Senate; former EU Commissioner, Robert Cooper (United Kingdom) - Director General for External and Politico-Military Affairs, Council of the EU, Hans Eichel (Germany) – MP; former Finance Minister, Timothy Garton Ash (United Kingdom) - Professor of European Studies, Oxford University, István Gyarmati (Hungary) - President and CEO, International Centre for Democratic Transition, Hans Hækkerup (Denmark) - Chairman, Defence Commission; former Defence Minister, Cem Özdemir (Germany) - Leader, Bündnis90/Die Grünen (Green Party), and George Soros (Hungary/USA) - Founder and Chairman, Open Society Institute.