What is Europe? A clearly delineated geographic space? A loose confederation of states? A unified entity like the USA? A community based on values? A political utopia? Europe is the USA’s most important ally and trade partner. But fully knowing what Europe is and which political, economic, and social aims the 27 member states and their 500 million residents pursue, is seldom possible. For European-American relations it is particularly important that each group has exact information about its respective counterpart.

Petra Pinzler is a correspondent for die Zeit, Germany’s largest weekly newspaper. While attending Cologne’s School of Journalism she also studied economics and political science. After completing her studies and professional training she worked for various public radio stations, dealing primarily with economics and both environmental and development policy. In 1994 she became editor of die Zeit. She was the US-correspondent from 1998-2002 in Washington, D.C. Since 2002 she has been reporting from Brussels on European politics and economics. Ms. Pinzler was a Bucerius Fellow at the Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies as Harvard University in 2001. She won a Karl Klasen Prize for Journalists in 2001 for her coverage of the U.S. and a Prize for Journalists (Development Policy) in 2006.

Recorded Monday, October 20, 2008 at Goethe-Institut Chicago.