Melissa Keeley, one of Ecologic's Transatlantic Fellows, has given an interview on transatlantic relations to the German weekly DIE ZEIT.

DIE ZEIT 10/2003

The 29-year-old American describes differences in workplace culture and in viewing the Iraq crisis. She gives a balanced assessment of prejudices she has experienced on both sides of the Atlantic, as well as an account of commonalities of German and American lifestyles and cultures. Melissa Keeley points out the similarities between herself and her German colleagues which range from having read the same literature (Grimm’s fairy tales or Kant and Hegel), to a shared opposition to a war on Iraq. But her experience also includes cultural differences, like the German emphasis on academic titles or closed doors in German offices she has worked at (except Ecologic). She also notes that Germans seem not to perceive how strong the psychological impact of the terror attacks of 9/11 was on the American people. Although Melissa Keeley is convinced that there will be no break-up in German-American relations, there is an undertone of irritation when she states that "Like so many Germans, my colleagues are more afraid of America than of terrorism or Saddam Hussein."

Here you can find the CV of Melissa Keeley.