Former Foreign Minister
Joschka Fischer: Europe must become capable of deterrence
Former Federal Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer at the Lit.Cologne literature festival. photo
© Rolf Vennenbernd/dpa
Former Foreign Minister Fischer says he never thought he would utter such sentences. But now he is calling for a rapid and massive rearmament of Europe.
The former Green Foreign Minister is convinced that Europe must Joschka Fischer quickly “become a deterrent so that any potential aggressor doesn’t even think about attacking us.” Now is not the time to focus on balanced budgets. “We have to be capable of deterrence, we have to be capable of defending ourselves,” demanded the 75-year-old at the Lit.Cologne literature festival in Cologne.
As early as the beginning of November, Europe could find itself facing revisionist Russia striving for world power in the east and an isolationist America under Donald Trump in the west. “This is a very, very uncomfortable – if I can call it that in a trivializing way – strategic situation that we would then find ourselves in. Are we able to protect ourselves as Europeans? I will honestly tell you my conviction: “We are not at the moment. We have to do everything we can to become one.”
Fischer: “Times have changed dramatically”
Fischer said he never thought he would one day say such sentences. But: “Times have changed dramatically.” Regarding the current discussion about the delivery of the Taurus cruise missile to Ukraine, the ex-politician said that it is not advisable to debate it endlessly in public, because that would have little impact on Russian President Vladimir Putin. “You have to do it or not, but don’t discuss it for long,” he said. “Don’t be under any illusions: If Ukraine cannot maintain its independence, Putin will not stop. Appeasement is not an option, it will continue, only with the difference that it is getting closer and closer to our eastern border. In this respect, we are in a very difficult situation dangerous situation.”
The political scientist Herfried Münkler said in the discussion that if Putin managed to end the Ukraine war with a victory or a dictated peace, then that would lead to a mass exodus from the country with five to ten million refugees. It is striking that the parties in Germany that wanted to stop military aid for Ukraine – the AfD and the Sahra Wagenknecht alliance – were also the ones that did not want refugees. “This is a structural contradiction.”