Member of the European Parliament Reinhard Bütikofer will visit Washington and New York on February 16-20 for a series of meetings with U.S. officials, think tank experts and civil society representatives. Various pressing topics are on the agenda: the implications of the recent Greek elections, transatlantic responses to the ongoing war in Ukraine, transatlantic cooperation on energy and climate action in the run up to the Paris COP21, and the need to shift financial investments away from fossil fuels. In Washington, Mr. Bütikofer will also participate in a transatlantic talk organized by the German Marshall Fund. The event titled “Conflict on the EU’s Border: Russia’s Power Politics, Europe’s Response“ will take place on February 18th from 12 to 1:45 pm. To RSVP, please contact FPintern2@gmfus.org.
Biography:
Reinhard Bütikofer is a Member of the European Parliament (Greens/EFA) and the Co-Chair of the European Green Party (EGP). He sits on the Committee of Industry, Research and Energy (ITRE) and is a substitute member of the Committee on Foreign Affairs (AFET) as well as the Sub-Committees on Security and Defence (SEDE) and Human Rights (DROI). He is a Member of the Board of Directors of the European Endowment for Democracy (EED) and delegated Chair of the AFET Working Group on External Financing Instruments (WG EFI). He is Vice-Chair of the European Parliament’s Delegation for Relations with the People’s Republic of China and a Member of the Delegation to the United States.
Before getting elected to the European Parliament in 2009, Mr. Bütikofer was the co-chair of the German Green Party Bündnis90 / Die Grünen (from 2002 until 2008). He was the party’s Secretary General from 1998 until 2002. Prior to that he served as the Chair of the Greens in the Federal State of Baden-Württemberg. From 1988 until 1996 he served as a Member of the Baden-Württemberg State Parliament.
His engagement with the German Greens began when he was elected as a member of the city council in Heidelberg in 1984. Besides his positions in the party and parliament Mr. Bütikofer is a member of the board of the Aspen Institute Berlin, the advisory board of the American Jewish Committee’s Ramer Center in Berlin, the Europe/Transatlantic advisory board of the Heinrich Böll Foundation, the German-Chinese Dialogue Forum, the Nature and Biodiversity Conservation Union (NABU), and the European Green Foundation.
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