"Must change"

Joschka Fischer: “EU enlargement will take time”

(Bild: AFP)

Former German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer is pushing for reforms to the European Union as a prerequisite for a new enlargement. "I think the EU has to change if it is to be any good," the Green politician told the German Press Agency. "In this respect, there are difficult debates ahead." Fischer anticipates a lengthy process. "Nothing will happen quickly."

Fischer specifically mentioned difficulties in the agricultural sector. His party colleague and current German chief diplomat Annalena Baerbock had campaigned on Wednesday on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the EU enlargement by ten countries in 2004 for the rapid admission of accession candidates in the Western Balkans and warned against dangerous "gray areas". Like Fischer, Baerbock took part in the celebrations to mark the anniversary on Wednesday in Frankfurt (Oder) and Slubice.

"Great achievements with eastward enlargement"
"We achieved great things with the eastward enlargement 20 years ago," said Fischer. He and his then counterpart Wlodzimierz Cimoszewicz had ushered in the new era of partnership with a handshake on the Oder Bridge in 2004.

Fischer also sees great advantages in view of the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine: "Imagine: the war in Ukraine, aggressive imperial Russia - and we would not be united in the European Union." In addition to Poland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia, Slovenia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Malta and Cyprus joined the EU on May 1, 2004.