Germany’s defense commitments are beginning to match the ambitions of the Zeitenwende, and Germany’s increased investments in European security are being noted in Washington. In his first visit to the United States in his role as Coordinator of Transatlantic Cooperation, Member of the Bundestag Metin Hakverdi (SPD) joins The Zeitgeist to discuss how Germany’s new approach to burden-sharing is impacting the wider U.S.-German relationship, his impressions from meetings with political leaders in the Midwest, and how, despite differences, the Merz government and Trump administration are working to find common ground.



Host

Jeff Rathke, President, AGI

Guest

Metin Hakverdi, Member of the Bundestag (SPD), Coordinator of Transatlantic Cooperation



Transcript

Jeff Rathke

Welcome to all of our listeners. I’m really pleased to have Metin Hakverdi with us today for this episode of The Zeitgeist. Metin, welcome.

Metin Hakverdi

Hi.

Jeff Rathke

Metin Hakverdi is the Transatlantic Coordinator for the German government. He is also a member of the German Bundestag, where he has been since 2013 directly elected from Hamburg, member of the Social Democratic Party, and someone who has been involved in transatlantic relations for many years as a legislator, as a former distinguished visitor at the American-German Institute, which is when we really first got to know each other back in 2019, but also as someone who spent time in the United States as a student in high school and university. So, someone who has decades invested in the relationship of the United States and Germany, and so it’s great to have you here.

Metin Hakverdi

Thank you for having me.

Jeff Rathke

You are here in Washington on July 25th and it’s the end of a week-long trip, but you’ve also been here with the German defense minister a couple of weeks ago, so that gives us a lot to talk about. But first, maybe just so our listeners understand: what does the Transatlantic Coordinator do?

Metin Hakverdi

Yeah, that’s a good question. I have difficulties answering it. So, my first job is to deepen the relationship between the United States and Germany. But I like the job description as being a translator on both sides of the Atlantic. I like that one better.

Jeff Rathke

We have had to the privilege of talking with some of your predecessors on this podcast, Peter Beyer and Michael Link from the CDU and the FDP respectively, and it strikes me that one of the important function of the Transatlantic Coordinator is that of course you have a home in the Foreign Office, and you are in that sense representing the government. You also have the freedom of a member of parliament to speak about things as you see them and to speak sometimes a bit more freely than a government official might. Is that a use you intend to make of this position as well?

Metin Hakverdi

I hope yes. I hope yes.  It depends on the issue, of course. My goal is not to talk differently than other members of the government, but sometimes there’s a little more room for maneuvering. Yeah, maybe yes.

Jeff Rathke

And maybe to be a bit candid, perhaps. I was struck by that aspect as well when I was watching the contribution that you made to the debate in the Bundestag on the day that Friedrich Merz traveled to the United States. This was just a few weeks ago. He had his first visit as chancellor to Washington, met with President Trump in the Oval Office, and there was a Bundestag discussion of transatlantic relations that day. You hit a number of different notes, and I think together they make an interesting story. One thing you said was, “despite all the noise, despite the irritations, despite the at times, raw tone,