The Aspen European Strategy  Group is a nonpartisan forum for discussion made up of representatives from each of the Aspen European Institutes plus external experts, opinion leaders and policy-makers.

It deals with strategic issues for Europe’s cohesion and the future of the transatlantic relationship.

The AESG aims to become the natural counterpart to the original Aspen Strategy Group (ASG), exchanging ideas and sharing experiences.

The story of the Aspen Strategy Group begins in the US in 1971 with American strategist Paul Doty, who initiated an annual meeting to discuss arms control at the Aspen Institute. By the early 1980s, the group had evolved into a nonpartisan forum for discussion among academics, experts, and government officials. In 1984, former Secretary of Defense Bill Perry, Brent Scowcroft, and Joe Nye formally created the ASG. The “founding three,” highly regarded in Washington and around the world for their leadership and public service, agreed that the group would be resolutely nonpartisan.

They set in place a framework of private, off-the-record discussions to which we still adhere today.