Speaker Papuashvili about Germany: Sort out your own website before lecturing Georgian people

“The German Foreign Ministry should stop playing games. Couldn’t they find a single ‘IT expert’ to correct just two names and surnames on their website?” said Shalva Papuashvili, Speaker of the Georgian Parliament.

In his view, the German authorities are turning themselves into a laughing stock with their ludicrous excuses.

“At some point, surely they must realise what this behaviour has done to their own country’s reputation. Let them speak to their own ambassador and to each other in such a disrespectful tone. Do they think they can throw dust in the eyes of the Georgian people? Couldn’t they find a single IT specialist to correct two names and surnames on their website? And yet they lecture us, ‘we have money to spend, we want to help develop your country.’ First, sort out your own website, and then come and talk to the Georgian people. If they have something to say, let them state the real reason. They cannot even bring themselves to say what they actually want to say. They cannot even admit that they wanted a different result from the elections, that they lost, and that they are in the process of refusing to acknowledge that defeat. A country of that size cannot bring itself to say it to the Georgian people. They are playing hide and seek with us. All of this is a continuation of the face created by the German ambassador. We will be checking the website every other day to see in which calendar year, month and day they will finally acknowledge the will of the Georgian people. All of this shows that they do not respect Georgian sovereignty. If until now it was from Russia that we had sovereignty to defend, and we have occupied territories to prove it, it turns out that now they are attempting to undermine Georgia’s sovereignty through these petty, undignified manoeuvres,” Speaker Papuashvili stated.

For context: the dispute revolves around the fact that the German Foreign Office’s website has not been updated regarding Georgia, as it continues to list Salome Zourabichvili as the country’s President. The Chairman of the European Integration Committee, MP Levan Makhashvili, also commented on the matter earlier today, noting that at a meeting with representatives of the Weimar Triangle countries, the German side cited a technical glitch as the explanation. “I raised the point that we find it incomprehensible how, for roughly two years, the German side has been unable to rectify this discrepancy. A technical glitch was cited, but I made clear that for Germany, fixing such a simple problem in two years should not, under any circumstances, constitute a technical difficulty. Beyond the technical glitch, we have heard no other explanation. If it truly is a technical matter, one hopes it will be resolved in the very near future,” Makhashvili stated.