Joschka Fischer

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Joschka Fischer bigraphy, stories - German foreign minister and Vice Chancellor

Joschka Fischer : biography

April 12, 1948 –

Joseph Martin "Joschka" Fischer (born April 12, 1948) is a German politician of the Alliance ’90/The Greens. He served as Foreign Minister and Vice Chancellor of Germany in the cabinet of Gerhard Schröder from 1998 to 2005. Fischer has been a leading figure in the West German Greens since the 1970s, and according to opinion polls, he was the most popular politician in Germany for most of the government’s duration. Following the September 2005 election, in which the Schröder government was defeated, he left office on November 22, 2005. In September 2010 he supported the creation of the Spinelli Group, a europarliamentarian initiative founded with a view to reinvigorate the strive for federalisation of the European Union.

Green politician

Joschka Fischer in 1983

From 1983 to 1985, Fischer was a member of the Bundestag for the Green party. His stint in federal parliament saw him frequently engage in a frank and confrontational debating style, exemplified by an incident on 18 October 1984, when he addressed Richard Stücklen, then vice president of the parliament, with the words: "If I may say so, Mr. President, you are an asshole" (German: "Mit Verlaub, Herr Präsident, Sie sind ein Arschloch."). In 1985, Fischer became Minister for the Environment in the Landtag of Hesse in the first governmental Red-Green coalition between the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) and the Greens. Fischer caused a stir when he appeared at his oath of office ceremony wearing trainers. These trainers are now on display in a museum in Bonn.

Fischer also expressed his thoughts very frankly in the periodical of the Hessian Green party "Stichwort Grün". In the edition of October 1989—one month before the fall of the Berlin Wall—he penned an article with the heading: "Der Wiedervereinigung die Schnauze verbieten!" (Shutting up the re-unification!)

Fischer was again environment minister in Hessen from 1991 to 1994 and then became co-chairman of the Greens’ parliamentary faction in the Bundestag. Fischer was respected for his oratory skills, as well as for his charisma on the political stage. For a large part of the 1990s, with the social democrats languishing in the opinion polls, Fischer’s admirers referred to him as the "real" leader of the opposition. He parlayed his clout into political success, as he moved the Greens to the centre ground of German politics, paving the way for their first participation in the nation’s federal government.

Life after politics

From September 2006 until 2007, Joschka Fischer was a senior fellow at the Liechtenstein Institute on Self-Determination and a visiting professor at Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, both at Princeton University. He has also spoken at other American universities on various topics in foreign affairs and international relations. "A billion Europeans, from Vancouver to Vladivostok."

In 2007, he joined the Arab Democracy Foundation as a founding member of its Board of Trustees.

Since 2008, Fischer has been employed with the Albright Group, a Washington, DC, consulting firm led by Madeleine Albright.. Retrieved on 2008-08-27.

In 2009, Fischer took a post as adviser to the Nabucco pipeline project, in which the German RWE company is also involved. According to media reports, the “six-digit salary” consultancy contract has already been signed.

On 15 September 2010 Fischer supported the new initiative Spinelli Group, which was founded to reinvigorate efforts towards federalisation of the European Union (EU). Other prominent supporters are: Jacques Delors, Daniel Cohn-Bendit, Guy Verhofstadt, Andrew Duff, Elmar Brok.

Private life

Fischer has consistently been the among the most popular German politicians, for several years holding a leading position in opinion polls, even among supporters of other parties. This popularity may be attributed to the rise of The Greens as well as to his office as foreign minister of Germany, which continues to be one of the most prestigious political offices in Germany.