The former German foreign minister Joschka Fischer has warned David Cameron not to lose himself in “wishful thinking” about Germany’s potential support for reform of the EU.

Fischer stressed that the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, would do nothing to “endanger the basic principles of the common market, of the EU” and that it would be an illusion to presume the UK could get special treatment because of its large contribution to the EU budget.

“[Merkel] has a much bigger problem to address: how to find a compromise in the currency union with Greece,” Fischer told the BBC. “That’s her priority number one now.”



Fischer’s comments come a week after Cameron visited four European heads of state, including Merkel, and hosted the president of the European commission at his official country residence, Chequers. The trip kickstarted Cameron’s attempts to renegotiate the terms of Britain’s EU membership ahead of a promised in/out referendum in 2017.

Cameron aims to speak to all leaders of the 27 other EU member states before a European council summit on 25-26 June, in an attempt to secure a “better deal” for the UK in the EU.

Cameron is, among other things, appealing to be able to stop unemployed EU migrants from claiming benefits and to force those who are working to wait four years before claiming in-work benefits, something ministers have been told would require a revision of the Lisbon treaty.

After Cameron met Merkel on Friday, the German chancellor did not rule out treaty change and stressed that she did not want to see the UK leave the EU. Her advisers cautiously admitted that Merkel would consider it a failure of her chancellorship if a Brexit happened on her watch.

“We would like to be a part of the process that is going on in Great Britain at the moment and we would like to be a constructive partner in this process,” she said.

Fischer, Germany’s foreign minister from 1998-2005 and a key figure in the development of European foreign policy, warned that the UK would not fare well outside the EU. “What will the UK be without the EU? Go to Washington, ask them. The answer is very clear, very negative,” he said.