German Ambassador: Georgia is behind Ukraine and Moldova on EU path

Germany’s Ambassador to Georgia, Peter Fischer, has criticized Georgia’s stalled progress toward European Union membership, stating the country has fallen behind its Black Sea “Association Trio” partners, Ukraine and Moldova.

“Georgia has squandered all the time from December 2023 until now — a year and a half — with no progress whatsoever. In fact, Georgia is distancing itself from the EU,” Fischer said in an interview with Radio Liberty.

Fischer emphasized that EU accession is not just about shared values, but about concrete legal alignment. “Ask young Georgians what the EU means and they’ll say democracy, values, history, Christianity — and that’s all true,” he said. “But values lead somewhere — they lead to the law. To join the EU, a candidate country must adopt the EU's legislation in full. This is not optional or negotiable. The EU is a legal union.”

Reacting to recent comments made by Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze, who accused “European bureaucracy” of unfair treatment toward Georgia, Fischer said every word from that statement is "problematic."
“Who is this ‘bureaucracy’? The European Council, composed of elected leaders from 27 EU member states, makes these decisions. This is not bureaucracy; it is democratic legitimacy,” he noted.

Kobakhidze, in a June 27 parliamentary speech, said that despite perceived 'unfairness' from EU institutions, his government aimed to meet 90% of Association Agreement obligations by 2028, and reach full EU membership by 2030.

Fischer dismissed this timeline as unrealistic: “2030 is just five years away, and 1.5 of those have already been wasted. Even with full commitment starting now, 2030 would still be an extremely ambitious goal.”

The ambassador underlined that Georgia’s Association Agreement with the EU — which it shares with several other countries — is not equivalent to membership. According to him, if Georgia seeks only association, without membership, then "please let us know, so we don’t waste any more working hours on a goal you don’t intend to pursue.”

Despite his criticism, Fischer reiterated that Germany and the EU continue to support Georgia’s integration, but warned that such support will be futile “if normal, EU-standard democratic processes are not upheld” within the country.