“If Mr Peter Fischer, who apparently is troubled by accusations, then the solution is very simple: he shouldn’t support extremists,” Georgia’s Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili declared.

According to him, if Germany’s ambassador wants to distance himself from extremist groups, then he must say this publicly.

“There exists an extremist group that approached a Georgian parliamentary member and attacked Mariam Lashkhi with fascist slogans. After this, Mr Peter met these people at his embassy, declared his support, and said that these are Georgia’s future. Georgia’s future is in good hands in their form.

The day after this meeting, the same group attacked Georgian Dream’s Tbilisi headquarters. There too with political violence and fascist slogans. So if Mr Peter wants there to be no accusations against him regarding support for extremists, he must publicly distance himself from this extremist group just as publicly as he supported them by receiving them at the embassy and supporting them with a public statement.

The German Foreign Ministry spokesperson’s statement, if deemed necessary, will be answered by Georgia’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson. Mr Peter’s such behaviour is not the first instance. I’ll remind you that he also met an extremist group in Gori. In the background was a placard reading ‘slave’. When this is encouraged, we see what the result is. The result is the politically motivated violence we see at Georgian Dream’s Tbilisi headquarters. So this harms Germany itself most of all. This harms Georgia less,” Papuashvili declared.

According to the Parliament Speaker, it’s difficult to speak about recharging Georgian-German relations in this situation.

“With Mr Peter in charge, it’s difficult to speak about repairing Georgian-German relations, which is regrettable. He managed in three years to effectively destroy the best partnership formed over 30 years between Georgia and Germany. The Georgian people have particular respect for the German state, including during our independence restoration period. In three years, this gentleman managed to bring Georgian-German relations to their lowest point. He publicly supported this group that calls itself something from Ilia University, which attacked a Georgian parliamentary member, then received them at the embassy and said that these are Georgia’s future. This is who he calls Georgia’s future. Encouraged by this, they then went and attacked Georgian Dream’s election headquarters,” Papuashvili declared.

The German Federal Foreign Office made a statement regarding “the continuing aggressive rhetoric by representatives of the Georgian Dream towards the German Ambassador.” “The German ambassador in Tbilisi represents the position of the Federal Government. Germany reiterates its call on the Georgian authorities to stop spreading false narratives regarding EU and German positions and policies and to change its current political course,” reads the statement.