Joschka Fischer

Joseph Martin "Joschka" Fischer (born April 12, 1948 in Gerabronn, Baden-Württemberg) has been the German foreign minister and Vice Chancellor in the Red-Green coalition since 1998. He is a leading figure in the German Green Party and was the party's standard bearer in the 2002 election campaign, which saw an increase in votes and seats for the Greens. According to opinion polls http://www.tagesthemen.de/aktuell/meldungen/0,1185,OID2020828_TYP6_THE2020794_NAV3332916~1260572~2020794_REF1_BAB,00.html, he was the most popular politician in Germany for most of the red-green coalition government's duration. He was the frontrunner for the 2005 election, too.

The Visa Scandal

In 2005, Fischer has been accused by critics of carelessly relaxing controls on visa regulations for Ukraine, thus allowing many illegal immigrants from Eastern Europe to get into the EU, especially Germany, with fake identities. A parliamentary committee (Untersuchungsausschuss) has been established to examine the case, and unlike other such committee hearings, Fischer's statement (and that of other top officials) was shown live on public TV. In what was called a "Marathon session" (Fischer's appearance before the committee alone took twelve hours), the questions were repeated, and Fischer declined to resign from his post as foreign minister. As of April 27, 2005, a final decision has yet to be made. (See German Visa Affair 2005).

Related Topics:
2005 - Ukraine - EU - Germany - Marathon - April 27 - German Visa Affair 2005

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