In the 160 pages of his new book “Is Europe Failing?”, Former German foreign minister Joschka Fischer expresses his concerns for the future of the European Union, stresses the lack of European solidarity and proposes the Swiss model.

During the presentation of his book which was held at the Heinrich Böll Foundation, Mr. Fischer said the following: “If someone had asked me in 2008 whether it was possible for Europe to fail, I would have found it absurd. Today I can see that European solidarity has been undermined by the crisis.”

The former German foreign minister, who used many times during the presentation the term “solidarity” to express what is missing from today’s Europe, underlined that the Neo-imperialistic ambitions of Russian foreign policy is not his main concern. What he finds especially alarming is the general situation in Europe and the dangers threatening the European project, which became apparent in the last European Elections, with the rise of European far-right parties.

When asked what are his proposed solutions so that Europe can overcome its problems, Mr. Fischer replied that “We need to move forward together,” and added that a new haircut of the debt of southern European countries is required.

He also noted that what irritates him the most is the lack of ideas, the defeatism that has overtaken Europe despite the fact that European integration was a win- win situation for everyone involved. “A debt haircut had also taken place in the 50s for the Germans, a few years after the war. Do you think they liked that in Paris or Athens? ”

66-year-old Fischer has been out of politics since 2005, when Merkel ended his seven-year reign as Germany’s top diplomat and vice chancellor by defeating Social Democrat Gerhard Schroeder.