Roundtable seminar on German elections

On 19th of September, the Baltic Defence College held a Roundtable seminar on German Bundestag election. The guest-experts in the seminar were Professor Vello Pettai and lecturer Thomas Linsemaier from the Skytte Institute of the University of Tartu. The seminar was organized by Dr. Viljar Veebel and moderated by Mr. Mark Oppgenorth from Department of Political and Strategic Studies.

The starting topics of debate covered the main actors and questions that are impacting the voters’ preferences in upcoming elections. The detailed overview of all the parties participating in elections was provided discussing their leadership and major aspects of their programs. The focus of interaction with BALTDEFCOL faculty and students of JCGSC 2017/2018 and CSC 2017 was on questions how might or will the Bundestag election results influence the German vision on European defense and future relations with Russia. Additionally, wider European perspective was analysed in the context of German role in the European Union and NATO. The last block of the Roundtable seminar was an interesting debate about possible coalitions and future policy of German government in general.