TBILISI, July 3, 2026. Georgian opposition politician Grigol Gegelia has met Austrian Foreign Minister Beate Meinl-Reisinger in Vienna, his party Lelo Strong Georgia said Friday.
Gegelia is the international secretary of Lelo Strong Georgia, one of the opposition forces in Georgia. According to Interpressnews, the party explained the meeting as part of efforts to defend and support the Georgian people’s European and democratic aspirations.
Gegelia said the Austrian foreign minister understands Georgia’s challenges and supports what he described as the Georgian people’s struggle for a democratic and European state.
“The Austrian foreign minister understands our challenges well and supports the Georgian people’s struggle for a democratic and European state,” Gegelia said.
He described Meinl-Reisinger as an important figure in his political family and said she is a partner for Georgians who care about freedom, prosperity and a strong Georgian state.
The meeting took place during the ALDE congress in Vienna, where Gegelia and Tazo Datunashvili are representing Lelo. ALDE is a European liberal political alliance that brings together liberal and centrist parties from across Europe.
Lelo said its leaders are holding meetings with representatives of different political parties from EU member states during the congress.
The report comes as Georgian opposition parties continue to look for support and allies abroad while relations remain strained between the Georgian government and Western institutions.
Interpressnews later reported that Meinl-Reisinger said Austria and the EU would not compromise on fundamental values, including the rule of law, and rejected the idea that Georgia’s government could bargain over them. “This is not a market,” she said, adding that Georgia’s citizens had chosen Europe but that the government was not supporting that choice. Meinl-Reisinger said Georgia was seeing “major backsliding” and that the country was “not going in the right direction.”
