Georgian Parliament official accuses German Ambassador of blurring lines between diplomacy and political favouritism over apartment rental from opposition leader

Levan Makhashvili, the Chair of the Georgian Parliament’s Committee on European Integration, on Friday responded critically to a media report, which claims that the spouse of Mamuka Khazaradze, the leader of the opposition Lelo party, had rented out her apartment to German Ambassador Peter Fischer - without a publicly available rental agreement to confirm the arrangement.

Makhashvili expressed concern over what he described as a “troubling closeness” between certain diplomats and political figures in Georgia, arguing that such relationships blur the line between legal conduct and political corruption, as well as between diplomatic neutrality and interference in domestic affairs.

“This kind of closeness clearly violates the line between upholding the law and political corruption, between diplomatic neutrality and interference in internal matters”, the Parliament official said.

He further noted that Fischer’s actions were not entirely unexpected, given what he referred to as the Ambassador’s prior behaviour.

“That is precisely why we have consistently called on diplomats to refrain from such forms of engagement and interference in Georgian politics. However, we are not surprised by Peter Fischer - what we have seen from him makes it clear that violating the law, breaching the Vienna Convention, or disregarding diplomatic ethics may not be an issue for him. Unfortunately, this is the kind of diplomat we are dealing with”, he concluded.