http://www.project-syndicate.org/series/the_rebel_realist <p><em>Has the project for European Union reached its end? Is further EU enlargement antagonistic to deeper integration? Should the global community of democracies assume greater responsibility for fixing the world’s problems? How can the Islamic world’s democratic deficit be closed? How dangerous is the threat of a nuclear Middle East? Is an independent EU defense capability compatible with NATO?</em></p> en 2012-02-10T06:00:49+01:00 webmaster@project-syndicate.org Joschka Fischer 1994-01-01T00:00:00+01:00 4 hourly http://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/fischer70/English <a href=http://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/fischer70/English>FISCHER: The Chancellor Who Played with Fire</a> If Angela Merkel is unlucky, the eurozone crisis will come to a head at the start of the German election year in 2013, rendering moot all previous calculations, because, despite Germans’ frustration with Europe, the electorate would punish severely those who allowed Europe to fail. And Merkel seems willing to do just that. Joschka Fischer 2012-01-31T00:00:00+01:00 http://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/fischer69/English <a href=http://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/fischer69/English>FISCHER: Europe’s Market-Led Integration</a> Just as former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi was brought down not by political opponents, but by jittery investors, it is the markets, not European leaders, that have opened the door to a European fiscal and political union. That is no cause for celebration. Joschka Fischer 2011-12-30T00:00:00+01:00 http://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/fischer68/English <a href=http://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/fischer68/English>FISCHER: Iran on the Warpath</a> While Europe remains preoccupied with its own slow-motion crisis, and other global powers continue to be mesmerized by the bizarre spectacle of European officials’ myriad efforts to rescue the euro (and thus the global financial system), clouds of war are massing over Iran once more. Indeed, matters are likely to come to a head in 2012. Joschka Fischer 2011-11-28T00:00:00+01:00 http://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/fischer67/English <a href=http://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/fischer67/English>FISCHER: Europeanizing Europe</a> The eurozone is at the center of the global financial crisis, because only there, in the realm of the second most important currency after the dollar, does the crisis hit a weak structure rather than a state with real power. Anything less than a United States of Europe will not be powerful enough to prevent the looming disaster. Joschka Fischer 2011-10-27T00:00:00+02:00 http://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/fischer66/English <a href=http://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/fischer66/English>FISCHER: Which New Middle East?</a> Regardless of whether democratization in the Middle East succeeds or authoritarian forms of government prevail once again, one fundamental change has already become clear: no one will be able to govern without taking into account domestic public opinion. That fact will be the source of many other changes in the weeks and months ahead. Joschka Fischer 2011-09-23T00:00:00+02:00 http://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/fischer65/English <a href=http://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/fischer65/English>FISCHER: Europe’s Shaky Foundations</a> Slowly, word is getting round – even in Germany – that the financial crisis could destroy the European unification project in its entirety. Indeed, the crisis is beginning to erode the Franco-German and transatlantic foundations – of a post-war European order that has ensured an unprecedented period of peace and prosperity. Joschka Fischer 2011-08-30T00:00:00+02:00 http://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/fischer64/English <a href=http://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/fischer64/English>FISCHER: Europe’s Sovereignty Crisis</a> More than ever, the EU must combine greater stability, financial transfers, and mutual solidarity in order to avoid collapsing under the weight of the ongoing sovereign-debt crisis. If EU member states' leaders do not even try, their defeat – and that of Europe – is certain. Joschka Fischer 2011-07-31T00:00:00+02:00 http://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/fischer63/English <a href=http://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/fischer63/English>FISCHER: Does Europe Have a Death Wish?</a> The European financial crisis is really a political crisis, because EU leaders are unable to decide on the necessary measures. Resolving this crisis requires more Europe and more integration, not less. Joschka Fischer 2011-06-27T00:00:00+02:00 http://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/fischer62/English <a href=http://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/fischer62/English>FISCHER: A Bomb in Every Reactor</a> As a rule, the path to nuclear-power status always begins with so-called “civilian” nuclear programs. So, if the world's existing nuclear powers are serious about non-proliferation, they must not only fulfill their obligation to disarm, but should also abandon their own nuclear-energy programs. Joschka Fischer 2011-04-30T00:00:00+02:00 http://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/fischer61/English <a href=http://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/fischer61/English>FISCHER: The Wrong German Foreign Policy</a> Germany's abstention from the UN Security Council's vote on humanitarian military invention in Libya was a grave mistake. The country has lost its credibility with the UN, and in the Middle East; its claim to a permanent seat on the Council has been trashed for good; and one really must fear the worst for Europe. Joschka Fischer 2011-03-24T00:00:00+01:00 http://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/fischer60/English <a href=http://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/fischer60/English>FISCHER: The Middle East Awakening</a> Whether the Arab and wider Islamic world’s democratic awakening will prevail, whether it will lead to a stable order or sustained chaos and a return to authoritarianism, still remains unclear. One thing, however, is already clear: should this awakening fail, the result will be radicalization throughout the region. Joschka Fischer 2011-02-25T00:00:00+01:00 http://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/fischer59/English <a href=http://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/fischer59/English>FISCHER: The Mediterranean Crucible</a> What the EU is facing in the Mediterranean isn’t primarily a currency problem caused by its southern tier of member states. First and foremost, Europe faces a strategic problem – one that extends to the Mediterranean's southern shore and requires solutions urgently. Joschka Fischer 2011-01-28T00:00:00+01:00 http://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/fischer58/English <a href=http://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/fischer58/English>FISCHER: Exiting the Middle East Labyrinth</a> Much to Barack Obama's credit – and in contrast to George W. Bush – he tried, from his first day in office, to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. But he has virtually nothing to show for it, and the prospect of a two-state solution, which is in the vital interest of Israelis and Palestinians alike, is slipping away. Joschka Fischer 2010-12-28T00:00:00+01:00