“The EU looks rich, weak, and old; it should avoid dark alleys” - Joschka Fischer 0 5

Joschka Fischer has been through a lot. Under his leadership, the strictly pacifist 'Greens' agreed to NATO's mission in Kosovo in 1999. This decision, however, nearly cost him his position and even his eardrums at a party conference when he was pelted with paintballs.

Fischer remained unyielding during other political scandals, becoming one of the most popular politicians of the early 2000s, rising to the position of Foreign Minister and Vice Chancellor. In this light, his current statements about the future of Europe sound extremely bleak. The reason for this is that Fischer is increasingly troubled by the EU as an institution, reports Merkur.

“Shocked by the current EU policy”

During his tenure as Foreign Minister, the expansion of the European Union took place in 2004. The accession of 10 new states, including Poland, the Czech Republic, and the Baltic countries, strengthened the EU economically and strategically, in his opinion.

Even after leaving politics, Joschka Fischer remained a staunch supporter of the European Union: in 2011, he visited Moscow as an advisor to promote closer cooperation between Russia and the EU. “You will not understand the European Union if you do not take into account that it is essentially built against nationalism,” he explained at that time.

Today, 20 years after leaving active politics, Joschka Fischer says he is shocked by what he sees. Last Friday, he spoke at the Free University of Berlin with a speech about Europe’s role in an increasingly fragmented world. He openly confessed to the audience about his growing pessimism: “I worry that our future will be extremely bleak.”

Europe has been abandoned by the US, and it is threatened by Russia. For the first time since the end of World War II, Europe, in Fischer’s view, finds itself alone on the world political stage and - weaker than ever since 1945.

But instead of preparing for a new world order in military, technological, and economic terms, the EU, believes the German politician, has focused on petty disputes and unnecessary procedures. “These 'blah-blah' and institutions make me nauseous. They are a sign of weakness,” stated the 77-year-old politician. “We, Europeans, are not coping with the tasks before us.”

“We only have Friedrich Merz, and he is not Adenauer”

According to Fischer, Brussels clearly lacks statesmanship: “Europe must become the last refuge of the liberal world order,” he believes. “To achieve this, the continent must defend itself better; we need someone like Adenauer. But we only have Friedrich Merz, and he is not Adenauer.”

In his speech, he emphasized that peace and stability in Europe depend not only on the Chancellor of Germany but also on actions from Moscow. “If Russia lays down its arms, the war will end today,” he stated in Berlin.

When one of the audience members shouted, “Do you want a third world war?”, Fischer got angry and replied, “You should leave the hall.” The questioner did just that.