Foreign Minister of Germany Joschka Fischer discussed yesterday American-European relations and the need for the two countries to work together toward the destruction of totalitarian institutions.
"America and Europe can master the crises of the 21st century, only if we work together," he said.
Wilson School dean Anne-Marie Slaughter '80 and professor Wolfgang Danspeckgruber of the Liechtenstein Institute for Self-Determination introduced Fischer, who, in addition to serving as foreign minister under Gerhard Schroeder, is the vice-chancellor of Germany.
Fischer is "the quintessential foreign policy maker of Europe today," Danspeckgruber said.
Fischer identified three qualifications for better trans-Atlantic relations and security.
First, he said, the European Union and the United States should remain "unconditional to our fundamental values" such as democracy, free markets, and freedom.
In addition, the two powers should respect international values and shared values in lieu of force, Fischer said.
Finally, he said, political deterrence is necessary to destroy totalitarian organizations like al Qaeda.
The EU's potential
Fischer spoke of the tremendous potential of the EU in global economic and political situations. Though the EU was originally designed as simply an economic institution, it has evolved into a political organization of crucial importance as well, he said. But he admitted the organization has had its faults in the past — particularly in a unified economic and political agenda.
"Europe must correct their shortcomings, and, let me add, they will," he said.
Fischer asserted that the EU is forming a definitive foreign policy that will encompass the organization's ideals, discussing its successful peacekeeping operation in Kosovo and in trouble spots around the world.
The EU's planned expansion to include 25 countries next year is further proof of the influence of the organization, Fischer said. But he said he does not foresee Russia joining the EU in the immediate future.
Cooperation is the key
However, the key to worldwide peace is positive relations between Europe and the United States, he said.
And the way to forge those relations is NATO, Fischer said. And he claimed that the United Nations, "despite its shortcomings . . . maintains its resource of global legitimacy."
Fischer called his multilateral concept "positive globalization."
"Positive globalization is the response to new deadly totalitarian organizations," he said, adding that it is not confined to economics, but rather to the globalization of fundamentals like democracy, free trade and freedom.
Fischer also spoke briefly on the war in Iraq, concentrating on the country's rebuilding.
Countries in the EU have a history of "nation-building," and though Americans and Europeans disagreed on the war they "must win the peace together," he said.
The lecture was sponsored by the Wilson School, the Leichten-stein Institute and the Program in European Politics and Society.
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