“There were positive, dynamic relations between Germany and Georgia, but this individual did everything in his power to damage that process,” said MP Rati Ionatamishvili, Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee for the Protection of Human Rights, speaking about Peter Fischer, Germany’s Ambassador to Georgia.

Ionatamishvili had been asked to comment on a statement made by Peter Fischer during an interview with Radio Free Europe, in which Fischer said: “Those in power in Georgia have reached the conclusion that they do not wish to join the European Union, that it is not in their interest, yet they cannot bring themselves to say so to the population.”

In Ionatamishvili’s assessment, Fischer had “turned into a leader of radical groups.”

“Regrettably, the individual who was supposed to serve as Germany’s Ambassador to Georgia has been occupied with replicating Gia Khukhasvhili. We can see what he has achieved through this mimicry. What is happening on his part is deeply regrettable. His manner of opposition bears no relation whatsoever to diplomacy; that is a sorry fact. There were positive, dynamic relations between Germany and Georgia, but this individual did everything in his power to damage that process. This individual’s occupation in Georgia was not to strengthen relations between the two countries, but to destroy them.

Essentially, he abandoned his diplomatic duties during this process and positioned himself as the leader of radical groups. Germany’s diplomatic conduct towards Georgia will enter the annals of diplomatic history as a cautionary tale, as an example of how diplomatic behaviour ought never to be conducted. We have been witnessing this for months. It has manifested itself on the website of the German Federal Foreign Office, where Salome Zourabichvili continues to be recognised as President. Regrettably, German bureaucrats place their own ambitions and interests above the relations that exist between our two countries,” said Rati Ionatamishvili.