From August 25^th to 27^th, 2021, the Marshall Center hosted a regional seminar for members of parliament from Georgia, Kosovo, Moldova, North Macedonia, and Ukraine on the importance of parliamentary strength and resilience in a post-pandemic era.  For the occasion, the Marshall Center had the honor of welcoming members of the U.S. House of Representatives House Democracy Partnership.  The members for this visit were the Honorable David Price of North Carolina, who serves as the  Chairman of the House Democracy Partnership (HDP), the Honorable Vern Buchanan of Florida, who serves as the Co-Chair of the HDP, and the Honorable Gerry Connolly of Virginia, the current President of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization Parliamentary Assembly. The Marshall Center and House Democracy Partnership have been collaborating on efforts to bring the invited legislators together for the purpose of building democratic resilience and sharing best practices. HDP is a bipartisan, twenty-member commission of the U.S. House of Representatives that works directly with countries around the world to support the development of effective, independent, and responsive legislative institutions.

The group was welcomed by the Marshall Center’s Director, Maj. Gen. (Ret.) Barre Seguin, and Brig. Gen. (Ret.) Helmut Dotzler, and the Dean of the College of International and Security Studies, Dr. Andrew Michta. The Congressional Delegation was also briefed on European Security by U.S. Army Europe and Africa Commanding General Christopher Cavoli.

Throughout the engagement, countries shared how their legislature has fared in adapting to the pandemic. Topics of discussion also included legislative oversight, democratic resilience, consensus building and conflict resolution, the importance of both domestic and regional cooperation, gender mainstreaming, and combatting disinformation and malign foreign interventions.

After two days of in-depth discussions on topics of strategic and mutual interest at the Marshall Center, the group travelled to Munich for a roundtable discussion on transatlantic security with Dr. Florian Herrmann, Head of the Bavarian State Chancellery and State Minister for Federal and Media Affairs; Mr. Timothy Liston, United States Consul General in Munich; and Ambassador Boris Ruege, Vice Chairman of the Munich Security Conference.

This collaboration highlighted the importance of a continued commitment to developing relationships and improving resilience in the face of new and emerging threats from malign actors. The Marshall Center and the House Democracy Partnership are striving to foster collaboration between nations during a time of increased strategic competition, hybrid threats, and a global health pandemic.