Marking 30 Years of German Unification: What Lies Ahead?
[virtual] Transatlantic Townhall with Young Bundestag Members
Bela Bach (SPD), Gyde Jensen (FDP), and Elisabeth Kaiser (SPD)
Monday, October 5, 2020
12:00 – 1:00 pm ET
Join the American Council on Germany and the German Consulate in New York for a discussion with young Bundestag members as they reflect on the 30th anniversary of German Unification – and what it means for them, given that they were young children when this historic event occurred. How do they view the development of unified Germany over the last three decades? How important is this milestone today and as Germany looks to the future?
This event is part of a series of [virtual] Transatlantic Town Halls: German Bundestag Member Dialogues, which is being organized by the American Council on Germany under the auspices of WunderbarTogether USA 2020, a comprehensive and collaborative initiative funded by the German Federal Foreign Office and implemented by the Goethe-Institut.
Bela Bach is a member of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) who has been serving in the Bundestag representing the Free State of Bavaria since 2020. Born in Magdeburg, in the eastern State of Saxony-Anhalt, she completed her Abitur in 2010 and subsequently studied law at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich until 2018. She has been a member of the SPD since 2007. She became a member of the Bundestag in February of this year and serves on the Committee on Transportation and Digital Infrastructure and the Committee on Petitions. In addition to these committee assignments, Ms. Bach has been a substitute member of the German delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) since 2020, where she serves on the Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights.
Gyde Jensen (ACG Young Leader alumna) became a member of the Bundestag in 2018, making her the youngest female member of parliament in the 19th German Bundestag at that time. On 31 January 2018, she assumed the chairmanship of the Bundestag Committee on Human Rights and Humanitarian Aid, making her the youngest committee chairwoman in the history of the Bundestag.
In addition to her role in parliament, Ms. Jensen has been serving as member of the German delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe since 2018. As member of the Free Democratic Party (FDP), she is part of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe group. She currently serves on the Committee on Equality and Non-Discrimination, the Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights, and the Sub-Committee on Human Right.
Elisabeth Kaiser has been serving as a member of the Bundestag from the Free State of Thuringia since 2017. She is a member of the Committee for Home Affairs and the Committee for Construction, Housing, Urban Development, and Communities. In addition to her committee assignments, Ms. Kaiser has been a member of the German delegation to the Franco-German Parliamentary Assembly since 2019. From 2014 until 2017, she worked as press spokesperson of the SPD parliamentary group in the State Parliament of Thuringia.
