The Foreign Minister of Germany Frank-Walter Steinmeier invited his Georgian colleague Giorgi Kvirikashvili to discuss prospects of cooperation between the two states and opportunities for rapprochement between Georgia and the EU. After 2008 a meaningful pause emerged in the relationship between Berlin and Tbilisi. The German authorities helped the Georgian government to build one of the camps for refugees from South Ossetia, but Germany had never hidden that it mainly blamed the former authorities of Georgia headed by Mikheil Saakashvili for the tragedy of 2008. Probably Berlin believed that the five-day war was an indication of a systemic problem, rather than the result of an individual decision by a political activist, which is why relations remained cool under the new authorities.
The Foreign Minister in the Presidential Administration of Saakashvili, Grigori Vashadze, complained that “the relationship with the leading member of Europe had clearly degraded.” However, he put the blame on the ruling coalition, even though the “degradation” started long before the parliamentary elections in 2012 and Bidzina Ivanishvili coming to power.
Nevertheless, Berlin attentively followed the activities of the new authorities, but didn’t prevent the signing of the association agreement between Georgia and the EU. At the same time, the document is rather symbolic, without providing Georgia with a visa-free regime; and the main opponent in the visa-free issue is Germany.
Georgia seems to be a small piece on the huge chessboard of relations between the the leading European state and Russia, but Berlin appreciates the carefulness of Irakli Garibashvili's government and his intention to reduce tensions in relations with Moscow and to resume the dialogue on the Karasin-Abashidze line. In this context, German diplomacy has decided to increase the intensiveness of the dialogue which existed only between the ambassadors to Tbilisi and Berlin. As a result, Giorgi Kvirikashvili was invited to pragmatic talks with the head of German diplomacy. At the talks special attention was paid to economic issues. According to Steinmeier, “the German government is interested in forming ways for encouragement of German business development in Georgia together with the Georgian government.”
The talks were held against the background of the Georgian-German business forum. “This is the first workshop of this kind, which is held in Berlin. We discussed with my Georgian colleague how to intensify economic cooperation, to increase the volume of German business in Georgia and improve the sphere,” the German Foreign Minister explained the essence of the talks, stressing that economic relations were a priority.
The Georgian Foreign Minister, who is also the Deputy Prime Minister, accepted the game rules: “Increasing the volume of German business and investments in our economy is one of priorities for the government.” According to Kvirikashvili, “additional opportunities for more intensive development of economic cooperation are provided by the association agreement with the EU, considering the free trade partnership regime. Our goal is to interest German business circles in the investment potential of Georgia, so we appreciate the readiness of our German partners to encourage the development of cooperation in this direction.”
They didn’t discuss NATO or providing Georgia with a roadmap on membership in the alliance, which has often been mentioned by the Defense Minister Tinatin Khidasheli.
Another factor which shows how carefully and delicately Germany plays in the Caucasus field is the activity of the German regional authorities. Recently Tbilisi has been visited by a delegation from Saxony “with the goal of learning about the investment potential of the Georgian capital.” Only economic cooperation, development of modern technologies, tourism and cultural exchanges were discussed. Saxony is “ten Georgias” in every sense and the real help could be significant. Similar visits are planned by representatives of other German regions. And this is a trend which indicates a certain strategy of Berlin.
The other symptom is that the German ambassador to Tbilisi, the most “invisible” and “quiet” one among all the Western ambassadors, never comments on political events or reacts to requests by the authorities and journalists to state a position on the situation on the Georgian-South Ossetian border and so on. Ambassadors get changed, but the style of behavior remains the same.
Such an approach by Berlin means that Germany has already defined its long-term policy toward Georgia, sending a clear message to it: “Please live peacefully with your neighbors, respect the current reality, admit that economic development is a priority, and we will help you to improve your life, to develop your economy, to increase people’s welfare, and to turn Georgia into a peaceful, prospering country with the happiness and wellbeing of its citizens as a priority.”
