Over 40 officers and Civil Servants from several different nations, along with 18 speakers and directing staff, linked up recently in Berlin for the 28th British Berlin seminar.

Organised  by UKSC Education Training and Support Branch (ETS)  and BFLO(G),  the Seminar was again hosted by the Humboldt University Centre for British Studies in Berlin, just a stone’s throw from the historic Checkpoint Charlie site and former Berlin Wall.

The international team of delegates at the Humboldt Centre for British Studies

The Seminar’s theme this year was the ‘Russian – European Relationship’ and its implications for our collective security, and gave delegates a superb opportunity to explore this topic from numerous different perspectives, with briefings and presentations by distinguished academics, diplomats and specialists at the top of their field.

Featuring strong BFG representation from a team of Army and RAF officers, led by Maj Gen Mungo Melvin, GOC UKSC, as well as members of the Bundeswehr and US Forces, the seminar was given added edge with the very welcome presence of delegates from Russia, China and The Ukraine, enabling delegates to discuss and debate this year’s theme from a wide range of perspectives.

The seminar launched in style with a superb scene-setting guided tour of the German Parliament, now located in the historic Reichstag building following the move of the Federal Government from Bonn to Berlin in1999.
 
Before delegates got down to serious debate and discussion, they were formally welcomed to the Humboldt University by Professor Dr Christiane Eisenberg, Professor for British History at the Humboldt.  Following her introduction, eminent speakers included Enno Harks, political advisor to the German Board of BP, Friedemann Muller, advisor at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs, and Jorn Thiessen, a Member of the Bundestag Defence Committee.

Appropriately, in Germany’s capital, the view of the British Embassy was vital and British diplomats were kind enough to offer their take on the issues being debated, with informed and provocative commentary by Hugh Mortimer, Deputy Head of Mission, Dominic Schroeder, Counsellor and Head of the EU and Economic Section, and Brigadier Iain Thomson, the Defence Attache.

Summing up the value of the Seminar, Maj Gen Melvin thanked the many speakers and organisations that made it so successful, above all Professor Dr Eisenberg for hosting the seminar, and Lt Col Fiona Bruce,SO1 ETS UKSC, and her team, and Amanda Coxhead, Land Liaison Officer for Berlin, for all their hard work in staging the Seminar.

Professor Dr Christiane Eisenberg, Professor for British History at the Humboldt Centre for British Studies, gives the keynote address to the senior panel and other delegates at the British Berlin Seminar.