“Germany’s Role in Georgia’s European Future: How to align expectations?” – GIP & IEP joint public event in Berlin
The introductory remarks were followed by a presentation of a draft paper on German-Georgian relations written jointly by GIP and IEP. While stressing the overall positive trend in bilateral relations, Viktoria Palm (Research Associate at Institut für Europäische Politik) and Dr. Bidzina Lebanidze (Georgian Institute of Politics) focused mostly on problematic parts of German-Georgian partnership. The authors of the paper unpacked the main issues of discord between two countries and proposed recommendations to German and Georgian governments on how to overcome them. Viktoria Palm highlighted the importance of aligning Georgian-German expectations and eliminating the limbo of mutual misperceptions that exists between the two countries. According to her, among other steps, Georgia should invest more resources in deepening diplomatic relations with Germany, while Germany should follow through on its new “Ostpolitik” as promoted by Foreign Minister Heiko Maas.
