Debating Europe

The German economy is in a deep crisis, the traffic light coalition has failed, extreme parties such as the AfD have recently made massive gains. Added to this is a dilapidated infrastructure, a persistent divide between East and West and the dual challenge of Vladimir Putin’s aggression and Donald Trump’s unpredictability.

A few days after the Bundestag elections, a high-caliber panel will discuss Germany’s future and its future role in Europe on the stage of the Burgtheater as part of “Debating Europe”.

With

Gabriel Felbermayr – Director of the Austrian Institute of Economic Research (WIFO)

Maria Fiedler – Deputy head of the capital office of DER SPIEGEL

Katja Hoyer – Historian and author

Wolfgang Münchau – Business journalist and author

Moderation Eric Frey – DER STANDARD

Gabriel Felbermayr worked at McKinsey & Co. in Vienna from 2004 to 2005 and as an academic advisor at the University of Tübingen from 2005 to 2008. From 2009 to 2010, he held a chair in International Economics at the University of Hohenheim (Stuttgart). From 2010 to 2019, he was Director of the ifo Center for International Economics and Professor at the University of Munich. From 2019 to September 2021, he was President of the Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel). Since October 2021, he has been Director of the Austrian Institute of Economic Research (WIFO) Vienna and University Professor at the Vienna University of Economics and Business.

Maria Fiedler is a political journalist and author. She studied in Eichstätt, Heidelberg, and Boston. After her journalistic training at the Berlin based Tagesspiegel she became a political correspondent at the paper and later the deputy head of the capital office. Since October 2023, Fiedler has been the deputy head of the capital office of DER SPIEGEL. In her work, she often focusses on the CDU/CSU and the AfD. Fiedler co-authored the book Die Methode AfD.

Katja Hoyer is a German-British historian and journalist. She conducts research at King’s College London and is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society. As a columnist for the Berliner Zeitung and Bloomberg, she writes about German and European society and politics. Her much-discussed book Beyond the Wall: East Germany, 1949-1990 was an immediate SPIEGEL and Sunday Times bestseller and has contributed to the reignited East-West debate over the last two years. Her first book Blood and Iron: The Rise and Fall of the German Empire 1871-1918 was also acclaimed by the international press and was published in German in 2024.

Wolfgang Münchau is a journalist and expert on the European economy and the EU. He is co-founder and director of the news service EuroIntelligence and has been editor of the podcast of the same name since October 2024. Münchau was co-founder of the Financial Times Deutschland, where he initially served as head of news and was editor-in-chief from September 2001 to August 2003. He has been a columnist for the New Statesman since December 2022 and also writes weekly columns on EU affairs for El País, Corriere della Sera and Handelsblatt. He is the author of numerous books, including Foreboding (2006), in which he predicted the global financial crisis.

Eric Frey has been a member of the STANDARD editorial team since 1991. He was Head of Foreign Policy, Head of Economics, Chief of Service and has been Managing Editor and Head of Text since 2018. He holds a degree in International Relations from Princeton University (BA and MPA) and a PhD in Political Science from the University of Vienna. He is the author of several books on politics and economics and teaches at Webster University Vienna and the Journalism Institute of the Vienna University of Applied Sciences.

The event is held in German language.

Tickets and more information: Europa im Diskurs – Debating Europe | Burgtheater

Debating Europe – Europa im Diskurs

This series of public morning debates brings leading politicians, scientists and intellectuals on to the stage of Vienna’s Burgtheater to discuss topical issues of political and social relevance. This long-standing event is a collaborative production of  Burgtheater, ERSTE Foundation, Institute for Human Sciences (IWM) and Austrian daily DER STANDARD.