{"id":74338,"date":"2025-07-29T11:58:51","date_gmt":"2025-07-29T09:58:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/libmod.de\/deutschland-muss-handeln-ein-appell-aus-georgien\/"},"modified":"2025-08-26T12:51:07","modified_gmt":"2025-08-26T10:51:07","slug":"germany-must-act-an-appeal-from-georgia-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/libmod.de\/en\/germany-must-act-an-appeal-from-georgia-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Germany must act: An appeal from Georgia"},"content":{"rendered":"

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text css=\u201c\u201d][\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row css=\u201d.vc_custom_1508251598805{margin-top: 30px !important;}\u201d][vc_column width=\u201c2\/3\u201d css=\u201d.vc_custom_1508252250311{padding-right: 20px !important;}\u201d][vc_column_text css=\u201c\u201d]<\/p>\n

Germany is paralyzing itself. This is partic\u00adu\u00adlarly 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 democ\u00adratic values, and its partners seriously! An appeal from Tbilisi by Hans Gutbrod.<\/h3>\n
\n
\n

For over a year, Georgia\u2019s fledgling democ\u00adratic struc\u00adtures and achieve\u00adments have been hollowed out and destroyed at an ever-increasing pace. Thanks to massive electoral fraud, the ruling Georgian Dream party secured a parlia\u00admentary majority once again in the fall of 2024. Since then, it has been pursuing a relentless policy of repression against the population, following Russia\u2019s example. And Europe? And Germany? Instead of taking a clear stand and consis\u00adtently threat\u00adening and imposing sanctions, Germany has been allowing itself to be bossed around by Viktor Orb\u00e1n\u2019s 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, Orb\u00e1n is blocking any steps within the EU that could stop Georgian Dream\u2019s repressive course against its own people.<\/p>\n

Arrests, enforced conformity, use of force...<\/h2>\n

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 prose\u00adcution. Hundreds of citizens have been mistreated by the police \u2013 yet not a single one of these cases has been inves\u00adti\u00adgated so far. Instead, police officers who acted partic\u00adu\u00adlarly violently and merci\u00adlessly 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 demon\u00adstra\u00adtions in front of the parliament, which have been going on for 200 days. The Georgian perpe\u00adtrators 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 \u2013believe it or not \u2013 earned law degrees in Germany.<\/p>\n

...remain without consequences<\/h2>\n

And what is Germany\u2019s response to all this repression? It remains modest. Berlin has stopped direct funding to the Georgian government and is avoiding contact with regime repre\u00adsen\u00adta\u00adtives. Otherwise, however, the response in recent months has been limited to entry bans against those partic\u00adu\u00adlarly brutal police officers \u2013 nine in total. That is all that can be done, according to people in Berlin who deal with Georgia.<\/p>\n

And it is precisely because of the lack of inter\u00adna\u00adtional response that the \u201cGeorgian Dream,\u201d which now acts as a regime, is becoming increas\u00adingly self-confident and brazen. Almost every week, the German ambas\u00adsador, Peter Fischer, is vilified by leading regime politi\u00adcians. Conse\u00adquences? None so far.<\/p>\n

But why is German foreign policy so paralyzed? Political scientist Philip Manow identifies the \u201cjurid\u00adi\u00adfi\u00adcation of politics\u201d as the central cause of the sclerosis of democ\u00adratic systems that can be observed in virtually all areas of politics. Germany seems to have paralyzed itself with this juridification.<\/p>\n

Clear state\u00adments from Ambas\u00adsador Peter Fischer<\/h2>\n

Yet there is no lack of awareness of the dramatic situation. German Ambas\u00adsador Fischer regularly speaks out clearly and is respected in Georgia, including by his fellow ambas\u00adsadors, for his upright stance.<\/p>\n

However, there is a lack of clear response from Berlin, while leading members of the Georgian Dream party stage their inter\u00adna\u00adtional trips on Instagram to show that Europe remains open to them. A young man is enjoying his schol\u00adarship from the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), which has allowed him to live in Heidelberg for years \u2013 despite the fact that his father, who earned his doctorate in Germany, was most recently the presiding judge of the Consti\u00adtu\u00adtional Court and is now deputy justice minister, playing a leading role in disman\u00adtling democracy in Georgia. (And, inciden\u00adtally, the owner of a villa in a chic suburb above Tbilisi.)<\/p>\n

Partic\u00adu\u00adlarly noteworthy is the case of Goga Kikilashvili, a member of the so-called judges\u2019 clan, a legal cabal in Georgia. This summer, he received a DAAD schol\u00adarship for a research stay in Regensburg \u2013 despite his activ\u00adities in the High Council of Justice, a hub for judicial manip\u00adu\u00adlation. Kikilashvili had simply omitted this part of his biography in his appli\u00adcation, thereby withholding essential infor\u00admation from the selection committee. When asked about this, DAAD President Joybrato Mukherjee replied that the organi\u00adzation remains committed to the \u201cprinciple of neutrality.\u201d The assessment of the completeness of the documents was left to the applicant: \u201cAgainst this background, the DAAD \u2013 despite all under\u00adstandable reser\u00adva\u00adtions about Mr. Kikilashivili\u2019s role as a member of the Georgian High Council of Justice \u2013 sees no grounds for revoking the scholarship.\u201d<\/p>\n

Democ\u00adracies prove incapable of defending their values<\/h2>\n

The opaque network of guide\u00adlines and self-imposed rules thus even secures Georgian perpe\u00adtrators\u2019 entitlement to German funding. German taxpayers are currently continuing to support an exchange program that is firmly in the hands of the regime\u2019s 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 unmis\u00adtakably clear to the regimes how incapable democ\u00adracies are of defending their own values.<\/p>\n

History teaches us that author\u00adi\u00adtarian politi\u00adcians must be confronted with power and deter\u00admi\u00adnation. But this is precisely what Germany finds so difficult to do. Meanwhile, the three Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania are showing how perpe\u00adtrators can be quickly banned from traveling. Germany must follow their example: anyone associated with the perpe\u00adtrators should not be entitled to German support. Invoking supposed \u201cneutrality\u201d in this context is tanta\u00admount to declaring one\u2019s own impotence. The legal depart\u00adments of German author\u00adities must implement their own political guide\u00adlines instead of continuing to undermine them.<\/p>\n

The maxim must be that those who stand up against injustice receive support \u2013 both in Georgia and in exile. So far, however, there has been little sign of coura\u00adgeous support. Instead, honest Georgian lawyers had their funding from the German Ministry of Justice cut a month ago.<\/p>\n

Germany must provide clarity<\/h2>\n

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 Orb\u00e1n and his author\u00adi\u00adtarian 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 admin\u00adis\u00adtrative proce\u00addures. To escape this, a re-politi\u00adcization of action is a necessary step. The new federal government will have to create a suitable framework for this.<\/p>\n

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\u2014and to want to do so. So far, the results have been modest.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\n

 <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

[\/vc_column_text][vc_separator][vc_column_text]