Common Ground Berlin

Immigrants and their descendants account for a quarter of Germany’s population, but still have a hard time breaking into the political arena. Will any of that change this election year? Is the first-ever Syrian refugee candidate a good start?Host Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson talks with MP Aydan Özoğuz, a Social Democrat who was previously the federal commissioner for migration, refugees and integration and Andreas Wüst, a professor of political science and government at the Munich University of Applied Sciences.This show is produced by Dina Elsayed. Update 30.3.2021: The Green Party says the first refugee to run for the Bundestag -- Syrian Tareq Alaows, who we report on in this episode -- has since withdrawn his candidacy because of threats against him and his family.

What accounts for the slow digitalization of Europe’s economic powerhouse? Host Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson explores Germany’s digital reality with Social Democratic MP Daniela Kolbe, who serves on the Artificial Intelligence Study Commission; MP Anke Domscheit-Berg, The Left party’s spokeswoman on the Digital Agenda parliamentary committee; and Philip Meissner, founder and head of the European Center for Digital Competitiveness at the ESCP Business School Berlin. This show is produced by Dina Elsayed.

Affordable housing in German cities is increasingly hard to find. What went wrong and can it be fixed? Host Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson talks with Berlin housing activist Thomas McGath of Expropriate Deutsche Wohnen und Co; Barbara Steenberger, head of the EU Liaison Office of the International Union of Tenants and Konstantin Kholodilin, senior economist at the German Institute for Economic Research. Also featuring commentary by Berlin MP Iris Spranger (SPD).  This show is produced by Dina Elsayed. 

Where are we in the fight to curb climate change? And will having Joe Biden as the U.S. president help?  Host Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson talks to Douglas Hengel, senior fellow at the German Marshall Fund who writes about global energy, climate and resource challenges; Tim Gore, head of the Low Carbon and Circular Economy Program at The Institute for European Environmental Policy in Brussels, and co-founder of @fridaysforfuture.de Carla Reemtsma. This show is produced by Dina Elsayed. 

Host Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson talks to Juliane von Reppert-Bismarck, founder of the news literacy project Lie Detectors in Brussels; Lisa Dittmer, Reporters without Borders’ advocacy officer in Berlin for internet freedom; Damaso Reyes, multimedia journalist and founder of Clarify Media; and Jacob Mchangama, founder of the Copenhagen-based think tank Justitia. This show is produced by Dina Elsayed. 

The coronavirus vaccination efforts in Germany and the EU are a mess. Why are some countries so much better at getting people inoculated? Host Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson is joined by Die Welt Middle East Correspondent and author Christine Kensche in Tel Aviv; Wall Street Journal Chief Foreign Affairs Correspondent Yaroslav Trofimov in Dubai and ARD Radio Correspondent Helga Schmidt in Brussels.This show is produced by Dina Elsayed

E-learning isn’t working the way many students, teachers and parents would like. Host Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson explores the ramifications with psychologist Dr. Ilka Wolter, diversity consultant and parent Annette von Wedel and Berlin teachers Ryan Plocher and Adrianne Oldham. This show is produced by Dina Elsayed. 

The California company's new facility in Brandenburg is set to open this summer, leaving Germany’s auto giants scrambling to retain their dominance in the global luxury car market.Common Ground host Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson talks to Jens Hanefeld, who is in charge International and European Policy at Volkswagen, and Bloomberg Correspondent Stefan Nicola about the future of German electric cars. This show is produced by Dina Elsayed

 Unprecedented bans by the U.S.-based tech giants are sparking debate in Germany over who should control social media.Host Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson is joined by German MP (Greens) Renate Künast, Bloomberg Opinion’s Andreas Kluth, digital rights blogger and lawyer Joachim Steinhöfel and Jillian York of the Electronic Frontier Foundation. This show is produced by Dina Elsayed