Following the publication of the Tagliavini report, Federal Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier commended the work of the independent commission headed by Swiss diplomat Heidi Tagliavini. Steinmeier issued the following statement on the report in Berlin today (30 September):

”The Tagliavini Commission’s report provides an independent and balanced analysis of the events leading up to and unfolding during the Georgia conflict last year. I would like to express my sincere gratitude to Ms Tagliavini and her team for completing this important work.

I am confident that this unbiased and carefully compiled report will contribute to a deeper understanding of last year’s crisis.

The report again makes very clear that the fateful events of August 2008 cannot be allowed to be repeated. I therefore call on all sides to handle the report’s outcomes and conclusions responsibly. This is the only way to enable a sustainable stabilization of the region. I call on the parties to the conflict to do everything they can to achieve a political solution to the conflict.“

On Federal Foreign Minister Steinmeier’s initiative, the EU Council of Ministers had in December 2008 charged the independent international commission with investigating the causes and course of the Georgia conflict.