European Headquarter: Contingent meeting and discussion with MEP Lagodinsky in Brussels

On 17 April 2024, ZIF organized a contingent meeting in Brussels for all secondees working in EU and NATO headquarters. In addition, ZIF, together with the Berlin Office to the EU, invited other representatives of ZIF partner organizations in Brussels as well as the secondees to participate in an input and subsequent discussion with Sergey Lagodinsky, Member of the European Parliament. The topic of the exchange was the European elections in June and their impact on European foreign and security policy.

The focus of the contingent meeting was the personal exchange with ZIF secondees. Deputy Director, Dr. Katja Niethammer, Deputy Head of the Policy, Partnerships & Innovation team, Tobias Pietz, HR Officer Katrin Linke and Social Media Assistant Johannes Hentschke were on hand to report on developments at ZIF and discuss questions and suggestions from the secondees.

ZIF always uses business trips to engage in thematic exchange. At a network meeting organized with the Office of the Federal State of Berlin, the secondees, ZIF representatives and partners from other Brussels organizations came together. After a welcome by Wolf Plesmann, Head of Department for Federal and European Affairs, Media Policy in the Senate Chancellery, Sergey Lagodinsky, Member of the European Parliament, gave an input followed by a discussion. The open discussion, moderated by Tobias Pietz, focused on the European elections in June and their impact on political power relations as well as foreign and security policy, the civilian component of peacebuilding and peace consolidation and increased European resilience.

"The discussion with Sergey Lagodinsky showed how important the result of the European elections will be for the future of European foreign policy - not only, but above all, with regard to the composition and agenda of the new Commission and further joint support for Ukraine," says Tobias Pietz.

ZIF currently seconds 26 people to Brussels, including the European External Action Service, the European Security & Defense College, the EU Special Representatives and NATO headquarters.