German foreign minister defends deficit, urges caution over Iraq.

Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer has said Germany is approaching the three per cent deficit limit set by the Stability Pact due to cyclical problems and the huge expense of German reunification and not because of incorrect policies. Speaking about the anti-terror coalition, Fischer said it would not be a good idea to launch an attack on Iraq without compelling evidence. He said he did not see the point of lumping Iran, Iraq and North Korea together as an "axis of evil" as it did not take the situation any further. The following is the text of an interview with Fischer: "We are not satellites", published by the German newspaper Die Welt web site on 12 February:

Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer on the possible US intervention in Iraq, Brussels' "warning letter", and a further term of office through 2006 [as published]: Interview with foreign minister.

[Die Welt] Mr Fischer, as foreign minister, you cannot be happy with the acrimonious tone of the exchanges between Berlin and Brussels over the warning about the threat of a deficit. Why is the chancellor so jittery?

[Fischer] …