GARMISCH-PARTENKIRCHEN, Germany – Eight participants from six countries are attending the English Language Enhancement Course at the George C. Marshall Center for Security Studies here until Sept. 9. The next day, they will be a part of the next Marshall Center’s Program on Applied Security Studies, which will run from Sept. 11 to Nov. 20.  PASS is the Marshall Center’s largest and lengthiest resident program, running 10 weeks and involving about 100 participants from countries around the globe, including Europe, North and South America, Asia and Africa. This ELEC is a specially tailored program for participants who will be attending PASS. All the reading, presentations and seminar discussions are in English only during PASS. “The PASS ELEC gives these course participants the possibility to improve their English capabilities and their language skills overall,” said German Army Col. (GS) Ralf Klewin-von Fintel, PASS course director. “It will make it easier for them to be part of the plenary and panel discussions, and especially, for presenting the outcomes of the capstone exercise.” Continue reading

By Col. Jörg Kunze, BERLIN -- Representatives of countries aspiring to European Union membership and representatives of European Union member states gathered at the second Seminar on Regional Security Community of Interest workshop to discuss the challenges of EU accession from July 23 to 25 here.  Led by Col. Jörg Kunze, Col. Günther Rozenits and Lt. Col. Andreas Hellwig, SRS COI 19-16 participants included 25 SRS alumni from 13 states either aspiring to EU membership or representing Southeast European EU member states. During properly sequenced workshops, regional experts discussed the pros and cons of EU membership and the current public opinion towards EU membership within EU aspirant countries’ and EU member countries’ societies.These discussions were enriched through a roundtable discussion with Sabine Stoehr, from the German Federal Ministry for Foreign Affairs; Ambassador Klaus Woelfer, from the Austrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Florian Feyerabend, from the Konrad Adenauer Foundation; Lt. Col.  Hans Peter Wamsler, the German defense attaché in Tirana, Albania; and, Christian Wehrschuetz, leading media correspondent of the Austrian Österreichischer Rundfunk. Continue reading