Former US President Obama dines with Scholz and Merkel in Berlin
Former US president Barack Obama is back in Berlin - and paying visits to former German Chancellor Angela Merkel and current Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
The former US President Barack Obama called former German Chancellor Angela Merkel a "friend" when she came to Washington, D.C. in June 2022, and the two paid a visit to the National Museum of African American History and Culture.
It didn't take long for the two to reunite - this time in central Berlin.
On Tuesday evening, Obama and Merkel dined together - along with Merkel’s husband Joachim Sauer and both German and American security guards - at the upscale Italian restaurant Ponte in the district Schöneberg, according to the Berliner Zeitung.
The trio left the restaurant around 10:30 pm, with Obama “in a good mood,” reported the newspaper. However, it was not known what they ate - or what was on the agenda for discussion.
His next high-profile meal is to take place Wednesday afternoon with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who invited Obama for a confidential lunch and one-on-one talks during his five-day visit to the German capital.
READ ALSO: Former US President Barack Obama to pay Berlin another visit
Obama on tour
The 61-year-old is in Berlin as part of a three-city European tour, and on Wednesday evening is slated to speak at the 17,000-seat Mercedes-Benz Arena at Ostbahnhof in former East Berlin. The German TV host Klaas Heufer-Umlauf is scheduled as the moderator.
According to the organisers, the ex-president will speak about "tomorrow,” they wrote in a statement. The "relentless urgency of the now demands leadership like never before" and there is a need for "voices that encourage us".
The speech saw tickets going between €83 and €550 per seat.
Obama, who was US president between 2007 and 2019, is no stranger to the German capital. During his 2008 election campaign, he gave a speech to nearly 200,000 people in front of Berlin's Victory Column (Siegessäule), and as president he was given permission to speak at the symbolic Brandenburg Gate in 2013.
Obama has already been in Europe for a few days and made a similar appearance in Zurich at the end of last week in front of around 10,000 paying guests, in which he chatted about his family life in addition to politics.
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The former US President Barack Obama called former German Chancellor Angela Merkel a "friend" when she came to Washington, D.C. in June 2022, and the two paid a visit to the National Museum of African American History and Culture.
It didn't take long for the two to reunite - this time in central Berlin.
On Tuesday evening, Obama and Merkel dined together - along with Merkel’s husband Joachim Sauer and both German and American security guards - at the upscale Italian restaurant Ponte in the district Schöneberg, according to the Berliner Zeitung.
The trio left the restaurant around 10:30 pm, with Obama “in a good mood,” reported the newspaper. However, it was not known what they ate - or what was on the agenda for discussion.
His next high-profile meal is to take place Wednesday afternoon with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who invited Obama for a confidential lunch and one-on-one talks during his five-day visit to the German capital.
READ ALSO: Former US President Barack Obama to pay Berlin another visit
Obama on tour
The 61-year-old is in Berlin as part of a three-city European tour, and on Wednesday evening is slated to speak at the 17,000-seat Mercedes-Benz Arena at Ostbahnhof in former East Berlin. The German TV host Klaas Heufer-Umlauf is scheduled as the moderator.
According to the organisers, the ex-president will speak about "tomorrow,” they wrote in a statement. The "relentless urgency of the now demands leadership like never before" and there is a need for "voices that encourage us".
The speech saw tickets going between €83 and €550 per seat.
Obama, who was US president between 2007 and 2019, is no stranger to the German capital. During his 2008 election campaign, he gave a speech to nearly 200,000 people in front of Berlin's Victory Column (Siegessäule), and as president he was given permission to speak at the symbolic Brandenburg Gate in 2013.
Obama has already been in Europe for a few days and made a similar appearance in Zurich at the end of last week in front of around 10,000 paying guests, in which he chatted about his family life in addition to politics.
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