Germany must act: An appeal from Georgia

Germany is paralyzing itself. This is partic­u­larly evident in its foreign policy toward Georgia. We seem to be far from a turning point. This must change urgently, not least so that Germany takes itself, its democ­ratic values, and its partners seriously! An appeal from Tbilisi by Hans Gutbrod.

For over a year, Georgia’s fledgling democ­ratic struc­tures and achieve­ments have been hollowed out and destroyed at an ever-increasing pace. Thanks to massive electoral fraud, the ruling Georgian Dream party secured a parlia­mentary majority once again in the fall of 2024. Since then, it has been pursuing a relentless policy of repression against the population, following Russia’s example. And Europe? And Germany? Instead of taking a clear stand and consis­tently threat­ening and imposing sanctions, Germany has been allowing itself to be bossed around by Viktor Orbán’s Hungary for months. So far, the message from Berlin has been that it only wants to take important political decisions regarding Georgia within and with the European Union. However, Orbán is blocking any steps within the EU that could stop Georgian Dream’s repressive course against its own people.

Arrests, enforced conformity, use of force...

In Georgia, most of the leaders of the opposition parties that ran against Georgian Dream in October 2024 have now been sentenced to prison terms on flimsy grounds. The regime has passed more than a dozen laws to bring civil society and independent media into line. Criticism of the regime on social media is now threatened with prose­cution. Hundreds of citizens have been mistreated by the police – yet not a single one of these cases has been inves­ti­gated so far. Instead, police officers who acted partic­u­larly violently and merci­lessly against the people have been awarded medals. And the repression no longer affects only Georgian citizens: recently, a German journalist was fined over EUR 1,500 for reporting on the peaceful demon­stra­tions in front of the parliament, which have been going on for 200 days. The Georgian perpe­trators know exactly what they are doing. Both the prime minister and the speaker of parliament, the head of state security, and key figures in the Georgian judiciary have –believe it or not – earned law degrees in Germany.

...remain without consequences

And what is Germany’s response to all this repression? It remains modest. Berlin has stopped direct funding to the Georgian government and is avoiding contact with regime repre­sen­ta­tives. Otherwise, however, the response in recent months has been limited to entry bans against those partic­u­larly brutal police officers – nine in total. That is all that can be done, according to people in Berlin who deal with Georgia.

And it is precisely because of the lack of inter­na­tional response that the “Georgian Dream,” which now acts as a regime, is becoming increas­ingly self-confident and brazen. Almost every week, the German ambas­sador, Peter Fischer, is vilified by leading regime politi­cians. Conse­quences? None so far.

But why is German foreign policy so paralyzed? Political scientist Philip Manow identifies the “jurid­i­fi­cation of politics” as the central cause of the sclerosis of democ­ratic systems that can be observed in virtually all areas of politics. Germany seems to have paralyzed itself with this juridification.

Clear state­ments from Ambas­sador Peter Fischer

Yet there is no lack of awareness of the dramatic situation. German Ambas­sador Fischer regularly speaks out clearly and is respected in Georgia, including by his fellow ambas­sadors, for his upright stance.

However, there is a lack of clear response from Berlin, while leading members of the Georgian Dream party stage their inter­na­tional trips on Instagram to show that Europe remains open to them. A young man is enjoying his schol­arship from the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), which has allowed him to live in Heidelberg for years – despite the fact that his father, who earned his doctorate in Germany, was most recently the presiding judge of the Consti­tu­tional Court and is now deputy justice minister, playing a leading role in disman­tling democracy in Georgia. (And, inciden­tally, the owner of a villa in a chic suburb above Tbilisi.)

Partic­u­larly noteworthy is the case of Goga Kikilashvili, a member of the so-called judges’ clan, a legal cabal in Georgia. This summer, he received a DAAD schol­arship for a research stay in Regensburg – despite his activ­ities in the High Council of Justice, a hub for judicial manip­u­lation. Kikilashvili had simply omitted this part of his biography in his appli­cation, thereby withholding essential infor­mation from the selection committee. When asked about this, DAAD President Joybrato Mukherjee replied that the organi­zation remains committed to the “principle of neutrality.” The assessment of the completeness of the documents was left to the applicant: “Against this background, the DAAD – despite all under­standable reser­va­tions about Mr. Kikilashiv­ili’s role as a member of the Georgian High Council of Justice – sees no grounds for revoking the scholarship.”

Democ­racies prove incapable of defending their values

The opaque network of guide­lines and self-imposed rules thus even secures Georgian perpe­trators’ entitlement to German funding. German taxpayers are currently continuing to support an exchange program that is firmly in the hands of the regime’s clique on the Georgian side. And although the problem is known to the DAAD and also to the president of Humboldt University in Berlin, Julia von Blumenthal, nothing is happening. These cases send out an immense signal that goes far beyond these incidents and makes it unmis­takably clear to the regimes how incapable democ­racies are of defending their own values.

History teaches us that author­i­tarian politi­cians must be confronted with power and deter­mi­nation. But this is precisely what Germany finds so difficult to do. Meanwhile, the three Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania are showing how perpe­trators can be quickly banned from traveling. Germany must follow their example: anyone associated with the perpe­trators should not be entitled to German support. Invoking supposed “neutrality” in this context is tanta­mount to declaring one’s own impotence. The legal depart­ments of German author­ities must implement their own political guide­lines instead of continuing to undermine them.

The maxim must be that those who stand up against injustice receive support – both in Georgia and in exile. So far, however, there has been little sign of coura­geous support. Instead, honest Georgian lawyers had their funding from the German Ministry of Justice cut a month ago.

Germany must provide clarity

Germany must extricate itself from this mess. So far, there has been a huge gap between its own claims and reality. If Germany wants to be taken seriously, it must be able to act without allowing itself to be paralyzed by Orbán and his author­i­tarian cronies. However, it seems that those within the German apparatus can no longer even imagine winning a confrontation. It is trapped in the self-imposed constraints of entrenched admin­is­trative proce­dures. To escape this, a re-politi­cization of action is a necessary step. The new federal government will have to create a suitable framework for this.

Little Georgia has unexpectedly become a compelling test case for whether Germany is even capable of pursuing its own policy in a more dangerous world. The time without opposition is over. Now it is necessary to be able to assert oneself—and to want to do so. So far, the results have been modest.