German Ambassador: We are not a "deep state", it does not exist, it is invented and if someone can show me the "deep state", I would be very interested to see it - as for the abolition of visa-free regime for diplomatic passports, this will be done by Germany as well

Restricting visa-free travel for diplomats and holders of official passports of Georgia is a signal from our perspective that you are moving away from the European Union and, of course, this sanction, is a relatively light sanction. [The introduction of regulations on diplomatic passports] will happen in the case of Germany as well. This is likely to happen in a few weeks, - German Ambassador Peter Fischer told InterpressNews.

According to him, the European Union made a decision on this issue last year and now individual countries will gradually take a similar step.

“We are also following this step, because it was the decision of the European Union last year to suspend the visa-free regime for holders diplomatic and official passports of Georgia.

This must be integrated in our own visa regulations ineach state. So sometimes it takes time, but this will also happen in the case of Germany. Most likely, it will happen in a few weeks. Georgia is a candidate country, so we look at Georgia differently from other countries. A country that says it wants to join the European Union is measured by the standards of the European Union, and what we have been observing throughout the past year and this year is that Georgia is not getting closer to the European Union.

Georgia is moving further and further away from the European Union and contradicting its standards by adopting legislation, by other actions that do not comply with the standards of the European Union, and by spreading disinformation and disorientation about the European Union. They say bad things about the European Union. So if you want to join the European Union, why are you speaking so badly about it? This is a difficult question to answer.

And in international relations, if we have a problem with each other, we need to send some signals. Restricting visa-free travel for diplomats and holders of official passports is a signal from our perspective that you are moving away from the European Union, and of course this is a sanction. This is a relatively light sanction,” he said.

According to Peter Fischer, the reason for such steps by the EU countries is the recent actions of the Georgian government and it depends on the Georgian people what direction the country will go to.

“This happened especially because of the violation of human rights. We noted the excessive and systematic violence against demonstrators and we say globally that we want to send a signal to the people that we expect them to uphold globally recognized human rights standards.

It depends on the Georgian people what direction this country will go to. We are concerned about your distancing from the European Union in the fundamental areas of the rule of law, democracy and human rights. It is difficult for me to imagine Georgia becoming Belarus, because Georgia was so close to the European Union, achieved candidate status. Today I see that Georgians are freedom-loving people and express their desire to join the European Union. So I don't know what trajectory Georgia will choose. That's up to the Georgian people to decide, but I don't want to imagine that it will be a bad trajectory.

We, the Germans and the Europeans, have been your friends and will remain your friends. We are not a hostile entity. We don't want to tell Georgians what to do.

We are definitely not a 'deep state'. It doesn't exist. It's a fiction, and if someone can show me a 'deep state', I would be very interested to see it," the ambassador told InterpressNews.