Event reports
In the beginning, the participants met with Franziska Fislage, Desk Officer in charge of the International Party Dialogue at the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung (KAS), who gave an introduction regarding the differences between the Bundestag and the Bundesrat, the functions of the Federal Constitutional Court and the German state parliaments. The morning programme was rounded off by Diana Kinnert, an entrepreneur and author of the book "For the future I see black", in which she pleads for a modern conservatism. Ms. Kinnert made it clear in her conversation with the delegation that in her experience, young people were looking for politics that works quickly, in a non-hierarchical manner and also independently, in terms of time and space. She said that young people and politicians in Germany were concerned about the issues that would be of major concern in the future and wanted to mark them as urgent for debates and decisions at the policy level. Kinnert spoke of the aging society in Germany, the debates about a fair pension system of the future, the problems within the nursing care system and a lack of up-to-date digitalization, as hurdles in today's Germany. Paul Ziemiak, Member of Parliament and Federal Chairman of the Junge Union, underlined the close relationship between Germany and India and emphasized the importance of an exchange of political youth organizations on a global level.
Furthermore, the delegation met with Dr. Fischer-Bollin, Deputy Head of the European and International Cooperation Department (EIZ) of KAS. He explained the work of the organization in Germany and abroad and answered questions about the function of the German political foundations. Topics such as the importance of the Indo-Pacific and the influence of China in the South Asian region were discussed. One highlight was the subsequent meeting with Mark Hauptmann, Member of the German Parliament and Professor Dr. Mario Voigt, Member of the Thuringian State Parliament, who emphasized their long-standing partnership with India, the KAS office in New Delhi and their already existing friendship with some of the participants. Both underlined that next year's Indian parliamentary elections at the Union level will represent a window of opportunity for intensifying German-Indian relations. They further explained that nowadays, issues such as digitalization and cybersecurity could no longer be excluded from the political debates as they had an important impact on each country’s politics.
In order to delve into the work of KAS, the delegation then met with Rabea Brauer, leader of the team Asia and Pacific, and Evelyn Gaiser, Desk Officer in charge of India, for an exchange. Issues such as sports and education policy in the Federal Republic of Germany, to which the Indian side had expressed an explicit interest before embarking on the delegation travel, were explained by Kevin Straßburger and Felise Maennig-Fortmann from KAS.
And as the cliché goes, the best was saved for the last: The delegation members witnessed Chancellor Angela Merkel’s speech at the Day of KAS followed by a discussion talk between Professor Dr. Angelo Bolaffi and Professor Dr. Norbert Lammert, who is visiting India as part of a dialogue programme from 15 until 20 October 2018.
The delegation was accompanied by Romina Elbracht and Deepica Sachdeva from the KAS office in India. Amos Helms and Silka Baum were in charge of the programme in Berlin.
