German ambassador hails Georgia’s European perspective as “great and fortunate”

Peter Fischer, the German ambassador to Georgia, on Wednesday said the European perspective offered to the country by the European Council was a “very great and very fortunate thing”.

In an interview with the Georgian public broadcaster Fischer noted the role of the EU as the basis of “peace, stability, prosperity and freedom” for German citizens, with their Georgian counterparts now having the same opportunity.

The path towards the EU is very clear, there is nothing mysterious about it. Who will join first, history will show, right now we can’t say. And to join, a country has to adopt the acquis, which is the full body of EU legislation, regulations, standards and that’s a great task that has to do with the quality of lighting, norms for water, other environmental laws, administrative set-up, and so on”, Fischer said.

In his remarks, the German diplomat stressed the focus should be made on “concrete” projects preparing Georgia for membership.

The president of the Commission [Ursula von der Leyen] said you are part of our family and our family is not complete without you. So, let’s focus on the practical work that lies ahead. It’s a good deal of work but it can be done and it will be done”, he continued.

Fischer also added the Georgian government had a “very ambitious” programme through to the end of this year to present the legislation to address the conditions for granting the country the EU membership candidate status.

We are observing that carefully, and we support that. There are two aspects, one is the process which should be inclusive, involving all stakeholders including what we call civil society. And then we will have to see what legislation gets passed. [...] We want Georgia to join if Georgia wants to join and I think Georgia does want to join, we will work together to take the necessary steps”, he concluded.