Leadership Quote by Joschka Fischer

Fischer’s line reads like diplomatic small talk, but it’s really a tightrope walk between geography and ideology. “Neighbours as Europeans with Russia” smuggles in an unavoidable fact: Europe can’t wish Russia away. The phrase “as Europeans” isn’t just cartography; it’s a claim about who gets to define the continent’s political norms. Russia is adjacent, yes, but also implicitly outside the club whose rules Fischer is invoking. That’s the point: engage Moscow, but on terms set by a European order.

Then comes the second sentence, which locks the whole argument into place: “We are allies with the United States in the NATO framework.” It’s not an add-on; it’s a boundary line. If the first sentence offers Russia a door, the second tells you who holds the keys. Fischer frames Germany’s posture as dual-anchored: compelled to pursue “excellent relations” because proximity makes conflict costly, yet structurally committed to Washington through NATO, which limits how far any rapprochement can go.

The context matters: Fischer, as Germany’s Green foreign minister in the post-Cold War years, spoke from a country trying to be a “civilian power” while still living under hard-security realities. The subtext is reassurance in two directions at once: to Russia, that Europe wants workable ties; to the US and Eastern NATO members, that Germany’s outreach won’t become strategic drift. It’s careful language designed to make room for diplomacy without surrendering alignment.