It makes sense to make former Belgian heads of government presidents of the EU Council. People who have achieved the feat of holding together and governing a country that is at least divided in two. Charles Michel is the third permanent President of the Council and the second Belgian in this role. The Middle East conflict, on which it initially did not find a common line, recently showed how divided the EU is at times: solidarity with Israel is very heterogeneous among the member states. Only since the EU summit at the end of October has there been a common diplomatic language. In the afternoon, SZ editor-in-chief Wolfgang Krach will speak to the Council President about the conflict, Michel’s role and the prospects for ceasefires in Gaza. The SZ streams the conversation live from the Adlon – from 3:35 p.m.
At the 17th SZ Economic Summit, the motto “Divided world, united Europe? – Time for a new beginning” will be discussed Southgerman newspaper from November 13th to 15th, 2023 with prominent speakers from politics, business, science and the start-up scene. You can find the current program with all information here.
You can also follow several stage talks digitally in our live stream. On Tuesday, Marco Buschmann, the Federal Minister of Justice, will appear in the live stream on the topic “Is reducing bureaucracy really possible?” at 9:15 a.m. and at lunchtime at 1:15 p.m. the speech by Christian Lindner, Federal Minister of Finance, on the topic of “Financial policy in the changing era – an interim assessment”.