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Every year since 2001, the German Marshall Fund in cooperation with the Bertelsmann Foundation has convened the Transatlantic Conference for Young Leaders on the shores of Lake Como in Tremezzo, Italy.  The annual conference brings together promising European and American leaders under the age of 40 to discuss and debate the challenges facing the Euro–Atlantic community.  Participants come from a variety of professional backgrounds — including government, business, the media, and the think tank and NGO community — and develop lasting professional and personal connections on both sides of the Atlantic.

 GMF and the Bertelsmann Foundation held the fourth annual Tremezzo young leaders conference, entitled “Transatlantic Relations Reloaded — Defining the Matrix for EU–U.S. Cooperation,” October 20 – 22, 2004.  For three days, some 40 European and American participants discussed pressing global issues in the run-up to the U.S. presidential election in November.  While differences in opinion emerged on such topics as democracy promotion in the Middle East and homeland security, all participants remained committed to continued dialogue and cooperation between the United States and Europe.  The young leaders were remarkably open and frank with each other, and returned home with a deeper understanding of the dynamics, and tensions, that drive political developments in the United States, in Europe, and between the two.