The topic of the seventh Hearings is: NATO before the Washington Summit and beyond 

The discussion will be conducted in English.

The keynote speaker of the discussion traditionally is Prof. h. c. Dr. Karl A. Lamers, a former long-time member of the Defence Committee of the Bundestag and former President of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, an influential German politician with decades of high-level experience in transatlantic security issues.

The panel of commentators will include:

Petras Auštrevičius, MEP, member of the EP’s Committee on Foreign Affairs, member of Subcommittee on Security and Defence, former Lithuanian Chief Negotiator in EU access talks, for many years closely involved in shaping today’s Lithuanian foreign affairs and security strategy and policies.

Juozas Olekas, MEP, former Lithuanian Defence Minister, Chairman of the EP’s Delegation for relations with Belarus, veteran politician with solid experience in international affairs and defence policy.

Žilvinas Tomkus, Lithuanian Defence Vice minister, responsible for defence policy and planning, with decades of devoted work and successful carrier in the Lithuanian Defence Ministry behind him, including assignment as a counsellor with the Permanent Delegation of the Republic of Lithuania to NATO.

Linas Kojala, director of the Centre for Eastern Europe Studies Centre, renowned  commentator and opinion maker who deals with international relations and security issues.  He teaches international relations at Vilnius University and is an Associate at the Davis Centre, Harvard University. He was a Fulbright Scholar there in 2017-2018. In 2023, he was included in a group of Munich Young Leaders by the Munich Security Conference and the Korber Foundation.