Designated German Ambassador Speaks About Damage, Prospects in Relations With Georgia in Unity Day Address

Designated German Ambassador Barbara Voss spoke about “damage” in the legacy of German-Georgian friendship, efforts to preserve “what has been built” between the two countries, and areas of future cooperation in an address delivered during the German Unity Day reception in Tbilisi on October 2. Voss assumed her official duties in August, succeeding Peter Fischer after his tenure ended late in June amid the deepening low in relations between the two traditional close partners. “Speaking about German-Georgian friendship today also means expressing our sorrow over how much of what we’ve built together has been damaged over the past years,” the diplomat said during her address, stressing “exceptionally long and intensive relations” between Georgia and Germany.

“Ilia State University, which has risen over the past 20 years to become Georgia’s internationally most renowned university, backed by immense financial resources, particularly from Germany, and which cooperates closely with Germany in research, is now facing a threat to its very existence,” Voss said. Ilia State University was among the public institutions worst affected by Georgian Dream’s controversial higher education reforms, which stripped the university of many of its key programs. The diplomat then touched upon key German foundations halting their activities in Georgia, with two of them — Konrad Adenauer Foundation and the Friedrich Naumann Foundation — recently announcing the closure of their Tbilisi offices after the Georgian Dream government rejected their grant applications under the restrictive foreign funding laws. “All four of our political foundations, which have supported Georgia and its people for decades on its path to European integration, were forced to temporarily suspend their work due to a…