Georgian Parliament official accuses German Ambassador, EU envoy of crossing diplomatic boundaries, siding with opposition

Archil Gorduladze, the Chair of the Georgian Parliament’s Legal Affairs Committee, on Tuesday criticised Peter Fischer, Germany’s Ambassador to the country, and Pawel Herczynski, the EU Ambassador, accusing them of crossing diplomatic boundaries and siding with the domestic opposition.

In his interview with Imedi TV, Gorduladze argued that diplomatic standards no longer seemed to apply when it came to Georgia, and that foreign representatives were actively taking political positions rather than acting as neutral mediators.

“The German Ambassador is no longer a diplomat. Unfortunately, he has become a member and propagandist of the United National Movement. The same applies to the EU representative, who was conducting a pre-election campaign in favour of the collective United National Movement”, the Parliament official said.

The official further noted that such actions represented blackmail and pressure not only on the ruling Georgian Dream party but also on citizens who support the country’s sovereignty and development.

“When such things happen against our country, when there is blackmail and pressure not only on the Georgian Dream party but also on people who support the country’s bright future and the strengthening of its sovereignty, it is, of course, important that there be an opportunity to correct all this. What the Parliament Speaker [Shalva Papuashvili] wrote today is a fact - that the opportunity still exists. When attacks against our country from ambassadors or bureaucrats decrease, it will be a classic example that relations have changed,”, he concluded.

Georgian Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili on Tuesday said the domestic opposition and its foreign allies had miscalculated in their attempts to corner the Georgian Government, comparing their failed strategy to a football offside trap that backfires and allows the opponent to score easily.

In a social media message, Papuashvili noted that for almost a year now, the opposition’s and its foreign allies’ tactic against the elected Government had been one of deliberate snub, “which was to put the Georgian authorities in a position of tactical impasse”.