Program Details

This Zoom meeting is in cosponsorship with the Colorado European Union Center of Excellence and the German American Chamber of Commerce in Colorado.

After the difficulties of the last four years, the arrival of President Biden in the White House offers new hope for transatlantic relations. He and his very impressive team have always been committed Atlanticists. This presents a unique opportunity to redefine the relationship and, above all, to reshape it in a way which provides bulwarks against future shocks. But the challenges are considerable. On both sides of the Atlantic, domestic issues are to the fore: the pandemic, economic recovery and the need to build greater social consensus. And the US and the EU do not always share either a common analysis of global trends such as the rise of China or a common prognosis of how to respond. So, what will this new relationship look like, what will be its principal components and what are the chances of success?

David O’Sullivan served as Ambassador of the European Union Delegation to the United States from November 2014 until February 2019. Prior to his appointment as Ambassador, he was the Chief Operating Officer of the EU’s new diplomatic service, the “European External Action Service”. He had previously held a number of senior positions within the European Commission including Director General for Trade (2005-2010); Secretary General of the European Commission (2000-2005); and Chief of Staff to Commission President Romano Prodi (1999-2000). Before joining the Commission, he started his career with the Irish Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (1977-1979). He is a graduate of Trinity College, Dublin and the College of Europe (Bruges), and holds Honorary Doctorates from the Dublin Institute of Technology and Trinity College Dublin. He was awarded the EU Transatlantic Business Award by the American Chamber of Commerce in 2014.

This program has the support of the Erasmus Programme of the European Union and Jean Monnet in the USA.