CANNES, FRANCE—Europe is at the center of global economic crisis because a job started 20 years ago was never finished, and unless it is, Europe won’t survive. That was the sober assessment of the current state of economic affairs delivered Thursday morning by MIPIM keynoter and former German minister of foreign affairs Joschka Fischer.

“We will not solve the current crisis without a political union and a common Parliament,” Fischer said. “Without it, the European Union will not survive.” With it, he added, a solution to the debt crisis would be at hand.  It would also create immediate investment opportunities and "huge cash flow."

The current problem relates back to the end of the cold war, according to the ex-minister and the dismantling of communist regimes in Europe. He maintained that while this opened the doors to the possibility of a common currency, “there was no need” for it other than political motivation, and that it was crafted without a defined necessity for a common political union.”

But now Europe “is past the point of no return, and it cannot go back” to individual currencies. And if the currency union fails, the whole experiment will collapse.”

Fischer applauded the European Central Bank for its “courageous” move to flood the banks but insisted that more needs to be done, and what needs to be done is a massive undertaking. “Historically, unification has always been through brute force.”

He painted a scenario not of total dismantling of individual Parliaments but rather a system of leaders of each government coming together to share concepts and synchronize initiatives that impact the entire Union.

Through it all, Fischer repeatedly stated his confidence that the leaders of the impacted nations will come together. “The crisis will push us forward, toward unification,” he stated. “Don’t bet short on Europe.”