North Atlantic Pact: Joschka Fischer sees the USA on the way out of NATO

The NATO states will meet in Ankara from Tuesday for their summit. In advance, Trump once again lashed out against Germany and other allies and criticized their contributions to NATO, even though they had recently significantly increased their defense spending.

European heads of government “on a wide trail of slime”

“The European heads of state and government and the NATO Secretary General are approaching Donald Trump on a broad trail of slime in order to keep him in line,” said Fischer. He doesn’t criticize it. “You have to do it, I don’t see any alternative. But I don’t think NATO will survive like this in the long run.”

He is counting on a Europeanization of the alliance. “The European part of NATO must stay together, if possible with Canada,” said Fischer. “We have tried-and-tested procedures and mechanisms that we need to maintain and transfer to a new structure.”

“I would no longer rely on the US nuclear umbrella”

When asked that the Americans’ nuclear protection shield still exists, Fischer said: “I wouldn’t rely on that anymore.” It is right to spread as much honey around Trump as possible. “But I have my doubts as to whether that will be enough when the going gets tough.”

If the Americans left, they would take their protective shield with them, said the former foreign minister. “Then we have to try to build our own protective shield from the stocks in Great Britain and France and the non-nuclear parts of the European NATO.” This will mean that the French President or the British Prime Minister will have the final right to make decisions, just as the American President does now. “The financing issues need to be negotiated.”

Fischer was Foreign Minister and Vice Chancellor in Chancellor Gerhard Schröder’s red-green federal government from 1998 to 2005.