I came to Georgia 4 years ago and used to talk to Prime Minister Gharibashvili back then. I can't talk to him much anymore because he's in a remote place. But I told him and everyone who wanted to listen to me then that this window of opportunity was open, but it's not guaranteed that it will be open forever," German Ambassador to Georgia Peter Fischer told InterpressNews regarding Georgia's European integration process.

He expressed hope that Georgia will be able to use this opportunity and become a member of the European Union.

“Today is May 9, Europe Day. Germany is a founding member, Europe is for us the foundation of our peace, our freedom and our prosperity. We celebrate this day, for 80 years Europe has been a real blessing to us and I am glad to celebrate this day here with so many Georgians, especially young Georgians who seem to love Europe. We love Georgia. Georgia is a candidate country. You have a wonderful historical opportunity to join this union. I hope that this will happen, and until then we will continue the friendship and good relations that we have had for the past 30 years,” Fischer said.

Asked how long the window of opportunity for Georgia would remain open, the ambassador noted that the strangest thing he saw in this process was that the Georgian Dream is making friends with the forces in Europe that oppose the enlargement of the European Union.

“Georgia is a candidate country and this status will be maintained. I came to Georgia 4 years ago and then I used to talk to Prime Minister Gharibashvili, today I can’t talk to him much because he is in a remote place, but then I told him and everyone who wanted to listen that this window of opportunity was open and would remain open, but it is not guaranteed that it will be open forever. Enlargement is a political process and after the Russian attack in Ukraine, there was a big push for enlargement, we said let’s not prioritize question marks regarding enlargement for 9 candidate countries with Georgia, plus Turkey, there are many issues, but let’s put that aside and give a strong, bold push. But there are strong political forces in Europe that say that enlargement is enough, they are refusing future members. Some of these forces, these are the very forces that the Georgian Dream is systematically working with and this is strange. We want the window to remain open and Georgia to become a member of the European Union. You have the candidate status and therefore an invitation, there is a friendly relationship, everyone knows the rules, but please, dear Georgian friends, know that this is a political process, politics can change, and the window of opportunity will not be open forever," Fischer said.