John Vinocur as usual with some great insight into European politics. Crucially he points out that Joschka Fischer has some curious views on the future of the EU. More and more I see this kind of language coming from the EU, and to be blunt I think it’s a very very bad thing.
Basically, Fischer has said that an EU of 25 members must now reach a third strategic dimension beyond what he defines as the two initial historic and pragmatic phases of its development. He calls for an EU that is a “strategic” entity, a continental-type power comparable to the United States, India, China or Russia, able to punch its weight in confronting threats to stability in the world.
This involves dumping as outdated Fischer’s earlier idea of an expanded EU led by small pioneer groups. And it also means opening the way for the EU’s rapid inclusion of Turkey, which Fischer says has “a bridging function” between Europe and Islam in an ominously described “structure of conflict of the 21st century.”