German Ambassador: It is up to Georgians to decide what kind of state, society you want

“Georgia has candidate status since December 2023. The European Union awarded this candidate status to Georgia. It’s a great offer to Georgia. It’s the biggest gift the European Union can give – join our union. You have had this invitation since June. The work on Georgia’s candidacy has come to a halt because Georgia has been moving away from the European Union,” said Peter Fischer, German Ambassador to Georgia.

According to the Ambassador, Georgia still has the candidate status, but “right now, nothing is happening.”

“Free and pluralistic journalism, pluralistic means a plurality of opinions, many different opinions, is a foundation of democracy. Now, it’s up to the Georgians, what kind of state you want, what kind of society you want. However, if you want to join the EU, you have to have a free and pluralistic media environment. It’s a condition. If you don’t, you won’t join. And therefore, it’s interesting to have an academic report about this subject,” he said.

Responding to the question regarding sanctions, Peter Fischer said:

“Germany has issued entry bans against some Georgian individuals, which we hold to be responsible for human rights violations against demonstrators in Georgia. The names of banned individuals are not known because we have protection of personal data laws that prohibit us from publishing this information,” he said.