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Dr Eckhard Lübkemeier
A New German Government: A New Beginning for Europe?
About the lecture:
EU Integration has a power-diffusing effect: smaller member states exert an influence disproportionate to their size. Yet even within the EU, size still matters a great deal and, given its size, Germany will always be a key player. For nearly 16 years, Angela Merkel has been the single most important figure shaping Germany’s EU policy. How will the post-Merkel government strike the balance between continuity and change?
About the lecturer:
Dr Eckhard Luebkemeier has had a split career as both a researcher and a government official and diplomat. From 2003–2006 he was Deputy Director-General of the Department of European Affairs at the Federal Chancellery and served as German Ambassador to Ireland 2011-2014. Since his retirement he has been a visiting fellow at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs in Berlin where he works on EU and security policy issues. Among his publications available in English are “Standing on Our Own Feet? Opportunities and Risks of European Self-Defence” (file:///C:/Users/alueb/AppData/Local/Temp/2021RP01_EuropeanSelfDefence.pdf ) and “Germany Matters: Berlin Must Take the Lead in Creating a Europe of Global Reach” and (together with Oliver Thränert) “Rethinking and Redirecting: Germany’s Security Policy Needs Mental and Material Upgrading” (both forthcoming). He also comments regularly on international and EU affairs in German national newspapers.
Everybody is welcome.
Dr Lübkemeier will also participate in the 14th Conference of the Association for Franco-Irish Studies at TU Dublin, 28-29 October 2021, in a panel on Irish-French-German relations in an EU context. Further information: https://www.it-tallaght.ie/14th-afis-conference.