Late Wednesday evening the University received word from the German government that Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer had to cancel his talk at Princeton scheduled for yesterday evening.
Politics professor Wolfgang Danspeckgruber said Fischer was recalled to rally domestic support for German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder's health care package, which will be debated and voted on in the German legislature this week and next.
He said senior politicians in Germany decided Fischer's return was necessary because of the chancellor's decreasing political support.
In last week's state elections in Bavaria, Schroeder's Social Democratic Party received about 20 percent of the vote, leading to a bitter defeat at the hands of Gov. Edmund Stoiber's Christian Social Union, which garnered about 60 percent of the vote.
The loss was the third defeat in state elections this year
Though the recall to Germany happened abruptly, Danspeckgruber described Fischer as "very apologetic" about his forced cancellation.
"[Fischer] really wanted to come and will come again as soon as possible," Danspeckgruber said. "We were his only public appearance while he was on his trip. Usually, an event like this is attended by an ambassador, but the foreign minister wanted to do this himself."
Along with last night's speech, Fischer canceled all other U.S. meetings, which were scheduled up to Saturday evening, Danspeckgruber said.
He added that this was a significant loss for Princeton because of Fischer's preeminence in world politics.
"Besides the prime minister, Foreign Minister Fischer is one of the most prominent politicians in Germany and even all of Europe," Danspeckgruber said.
However, he said that despite the loss, other top world dignitaries are scheduled to appear on Princeton's campus in the near future including two senior European politicians and one senior Japanese politician.
"I will try to get more top world leaders to Princeton's campus," Danspeckgruber said. "It is definitely worthwhile for us as an institution to be able to meet these leaders personally."
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