On September 12, the Atlantic Council hosted an off-the-record roundtable discussion with Dr. Thomas Bagger, head of policy planning at the Federal Foreign Office of Germany.

The event touched upon the upcoming 2014 NATO summit, US and European responses to the recent developments in Syria, and Germany’s future leadership role in the European Union and the transatlantic community more broadly. Dr. Bagger offered a European perspective on the Alliance’s agenda in the run-up to the 2014 summit, the areas the Alliance should focus on and the likely challenges that will arise in the future.

Dr. Thomas Bagger is head of Policy Planning at the German Federal Foreign Office. From 2009 until August 2011 he served as head of the Foreign Minister’s Office in Berlin. His previous postings abroad were Washington (from 2006 until 2009) and Ankara/Turkey (from 2002 until 2006). Before he joined the German Diplomatic Service in 1992, he worked as a research associate at the Institute of International Affairs in Ebenhausen, Germany’s premier international affairs think tank.