Here is a comment from our friend DL from Heidelberg on German foreign minister Joschka Fischer’s testimony before an investigative commitee of the Bundestag today:
Foreign Minister Fischer’s testimony today raises some interesting questions. He admitted that not only did he make mistakes but also that he accepts full responsibility for his errors in the Ukrainian visa scandal. Exactly what does that mean? If he were the U.S. Secretary of State, U.S. media would be calling for his resignation. U.S. news organizations would demand to know who stamped the visas that allowed over two million Ukrainians to enter the country under false and illegal circumstances and would insist that person be fired. If Joscha Fischer truely accepts responsibility doesn’t that imply he believes there should be consequences for his failure? And what about the German Ambassador to Kiev? Was he relieved of his position or merely reassigned? Why isn’t the German media calling for the head of Consular Affairs at the German Embassy in Kiev to testify about his or her role in the matter? It would appear that after his public confession, Mr. Fischer and his minstry are being treated extremely kind by Germany’s state sponsored news outlets and there will in fact be no consequences.
While I doubt that the number of two million Ukrainians entering Germany (I guess the number is closer to 1 million, which is bad enough), I fully agree with DL that Fischer should resign because of his responsibility for the scandal.
