Transatlantic Symposium - 17. ed.

The 17th edition of the Transatlantic Symposium, organised by the Istituto Affari Internazionali (IAI) with the support of the Fondazione CSF/Fondazione Compagnia di San Paolo and in cooperation with the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, brought together around thirty Italian, European and North American diplomats and experts to discuss the key challenges shaping transatlantic relations amid growing geopolitical uncertainty. The Symposium opened with remarks by Cecilia Piccioni, Political Director at the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Participants included Pietro De Martin and Antonino Tedesco, respectively Head and Deputy Head of the Ministry’s Policy Planning Unit, alongside the heads of policy planning or their deputies from the foreign ministries of France, Germany, Poland and the United Kingdom, as well as representatives of NATO, the EU, Canada and the United States. The discussions brought together IAI President Michele Valensise, Head of Research and Symposium manager Riccardo Alcaro, and four prominent US experts: Kori Schake (American Enterprise Institute), Stewart Patrick (Carnegie Endowment for International Peace), Matt Duss (Center for International Policy) and Curt Mills (editor of The American Conservative). European expertise was represented by Celia Belin (European Council on Foreign Relations), Francesca Ghiretti (RAND Europe), Sascha Lohmann (Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik) and Rosa Balfour (Carnegie Europe). Across four panels, participants examined the domestic political roots of transatlantic tensions, relations with China and economic interdependence, the future of European security and NATO, and Europe’s role in an increasingly fragmented multilateral order. A second day public conference, organised in cooperation with the Center for American Studies in Rome, focused on the 2026 US midterm elections, analysing the issues driving political polarisation, growing public discontent and ideological developments within the two opposing camps, as well as their potential implications for Europe.

Funding: Fondazione CSF/Fondazione Compagnia di San Paolo