New York: The Global Order in Transformation: How Can and Will Europe Ensure Its Own Security and Promote Stability in the International System?

The ACG and the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung of New York will host a discussion and luncheon with Klaus Welle, Special Adviser to the European Commissioner for Defense and Space, Chair of the Academic Council of the Wilfried Martens Centre for European Studies, and former Secretary-General of the European Parliament.

Europe’s security environment is undergoing significant change. Russia’s war against Ukraine, wider geopolitical shifts, and renewed investment in European defense are reshaping discussions about Europe’s role in regional and international security. Against this backdrop, the roundtable will explore how a more capable and strategically engaged Europe can strengthen both regional and global security. The discussion will consider European rearmament, transatlantic cooperation, and Europe’s broader role in supporting international peace and security through the United Nations and other multilateral institutions. In particular, the exchange will examine how Europe can exercise greater leadership in conflict prevention and mediation, peacekeeping and peacebuilding, the protection of human rights, and the defense of the principles of the UN Charter. More broadly, participants will consider how stronger defense capabilities can be combined with sustained diplomatic and multilateral engagement to promote stability in an increasingly complex international environment. Following introductory remarks by Klaus Welle, participants will be invited to engage in an open roundtable discussion.

Klaus Welle served as the Secretary-General of the European Parliament from 2009 to 2022. In May 2025, he was appointed Special Advisor to the European Commissioner for Defense and Space. He is currently the Chairman of the Academic Council at the Martens Centre for European Studies (Brussels) and the inaugural ‘Leader in Residence’ at the Moynihan Center at the Colin Powell School for Civic and Global Leadership at The City College of New York. He is also a guest professor in practice at the London School of Economics and a visiting professor at KU Leuven.

Earlier in his career, Mr. Welle served in various roles at the European Parliament, including Head of the Cabinet of the President (2007-2009), Director-General for Internal Policies (2004-2007), and Secretary-General for the European People’s Party (EPP) in Parliament (1999-2003). He also served as the Secretary-General for the EPP and the European Union of Christian Democrats (EUCD), as well as the Head of the European and Foreign Policy Department at the CDU Central Office.

Mr. Welle holds a degree in Economics from the University of Witten/Herdecke and is the recipient of grants from the Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes (German Academic Scholarship) and the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung