A Conversation with H.E. Martin Weiss, Austrian Ambassador

Hear from the Ambassador of Austria to the US as he talks about transatlantic relations, COVID-19, climate change, democracy, and more. The new Biden administration offers a chance to reset transatlantic relations after four years marked by ambivalence in the decades-old relationship and disputes over trade, defense spending, or climate change, to name a few subjects. Yet, leaders in Europe and the United States are contending at the same time with serious domestic and external challenges, especially the social and economic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic, democratic backsliding, or the rising influence of China on the world stage. H.E. Martin Weiss, Austria’s Ambassador to the United States, will discuss these subjects and more during a virtual conversation. Professor Karin Johnston of SIS will moderate the discussion, including a Q&A with the audience.

Access the webinar via the event Zoom link. This virtual event is organized by SIS and the Transatlantic Policy Center at American University. For the most updated information, visit their event page.

Speakers

Ambassador Martin Weiss took up his duties as Head of Mission in Washington, DC on November 1, 2019, but he started his career in the Austrian Foreign Service in 1990. Previous to his appointment as Austrian Ambassador to the US, he served as Ambassador to Israel, as Director of the Press and Information Department of the Foreign Ministry, and as Ambassador to Cyprus. Throughout his career, he held several postings in the United States: He started as a Human Rights Attaché for the Austrian Mission to the United Nations in New York in 1991, held the positions of Political Counselor, Counselor for Congressional Affairs and Public Diplomacy and later Director of the Austrian Press and Information Service at the Austrian Embassy in Washington, and most recently served as Austrian Consul General in Los Angeles from 2004 to 2009.

Professor Karin Johnston (moderator) teaches and specializes in international politics, US-European relations, German foreign and security policy, and peace and security issues. She has written on German foreign policy decision-making on out-of-area operations, on German public opinion during the Bosnian crisis and Iraq, and media and politics in Germany and the US. Her current research includes projects on German foreign policy decision-making and the interaction and cooperation between military and civilian components in multilateral peace and stability operations. From 2017-2019, Professor Johnston served as a Franklin Fellow in the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Conflict and Stabilization Operations. She was a Mercator Fellow at the University of Duisburg-Essen in 2014. She is a Senior Fellow at Women in International Security (WIIS) and a former fellow of the Robert Bosch Foundation Fellowship Program as well as past president of the Robert Bosch Foundation Alumni Association.

This event is part of the Jean Monnet in the US series, bringing together the network of EU-funded Universities in the US. #JMintheUS.