Austrian Foreign Minister Beate Meinl-Reisinger held a joint press conference with her Georgian colleague Maka Botchorishvili, saying “on a bilateral level, Georgia is an important partner, as I stressed, for us as well as a significant development partner.”
Beate Meinl-Reisinger noted that “Georgia is a focus country of our development cooperation, and we have good economic relations. Further deepening would be beneficial, I’m sure, for both of us.”
“In the context of the continued Russian War of Aggression against Ukraine, we both need to strengthen our resilience. We talked about that. Russia continues trying to destabilize our institutions and societies, and we need to combine our efforts to fight against this Russian attempts to spread also false narratives and disinformation. Russia must not get away with its blatant violation of international law. If the international order is based not on rules, but on the idea that might is right, the consequences for states like Austria and Georgia will be vast. That is why Austria, and we also talked about that, fully supports the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Georgia. A key topic of our discussions were the occupied breakaway regions of Georgia,” she stated.
Austrian FM went on to say that “Between good partners, it is also possible to have frank and open discussions. And unfortunately, today we had many difficult topics also on the agenda.”
“When it comes to Georgia’s EU accession path, Georgia has shifted into reverse gear. This is from an Austrian, also from a European perspective, regrettable. We see a backdrop of reforms in the areas of justice, rule of law, and human rights. We even see backward steps such as legislation targeting civil society or irregularities during the parliamentary elections on October 26, as was identified by OSCE/ODIHR.
As a result, the EU accession process is currently as a halt. But I made it very clear to my Georgian colleague that we strongly condemn the violence against peaceful protestors and media representatives. The Georgian authorities must respect the right to freedom of assembly and of expression and refrain from using force. All acts of violence must be investigated and those responsible held accountable.
In response to the violence, the EU has stopped the direct assistance to the Georgian authorities amounting to over 120 million euros. We have also put on hold 30 million Euro support measures for 2024 planned via the European Peace Facility, and we do not plan any support for 2025.
However, the EU and Austria will continue the support for the Georgian people and civil society, and we call on those politically responsible to overcome the divisions and polarizations. I think there is no other alternative than to have an active dialogue also with the civil society and to keep up the dialogue also with the European Union, but also bilaterally. That’s why I think it was really good that we had this talk today.
But also, within Georgia, the dialogue with the political opposition and the civil society is essential. As I said before we regret that the Georgian government took the decision to suspend the EU accession process until 2028.
The further course of events depends entirely on the next steps taken by the Georgian government. I’m sure that the question how to follow the path towards the European Union is totally up to you to decide, and, of course, this is sovereign decision. It is also clear that we would welcome your efforts or more engaging efforts towards this European path.
I’m opposed to completely closing the door. I think I made it clear with this meeting today. It is essential that we maintain open channels of communication. Vienna has long been a hub for dialogue and diplomacy, and both our meeting today and Georgian colleagues visit to the OSCE in Vienna highlights this role.
We stand ready to support the Georgian people’s European aspirations and Georgia’s path towards accession should the Georgian authorities reverse a present course of action. Also a return to a pro-European direction would reflect, and we talked about that as well, the majority of the Georgian population with over 80% who support the EU membership,” she asserted.
