Georgian Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili has accused the European Union of double standards over its response to the violent incidents that took place during the October 4 protest near the Presidential Palace in Tbilisi.
In a statement shared on social media, Papuashvili claimed that only one side—which he described as “radicals supported by Brussels”—was responsible for the violence that day. According to him, European officials’ reluctance to condemn the clashes outright shows a troubling decline in democratic values within EU institutions.
“The deliberate refusal of the EU Ambassador to unequivocally condemn the violent storming of the Presidential Palace exemplifies Brussels’s regression in values and its anti-democratic trajectory,” Papuashvili wrote. “There was no ‘everyone’ who should have restrained themselves on October 4. There was only one violent side—the radicals supported by Brussels. To condemn them would be to condemn oneself. This is the genuine reason for the silence.”
The remarks follow a confrontation on October 4, when protesters attempted to breach security barriers outside the Presidential Palace during a demonstration against the government. Georgian authorities described the incident as an “organized attack” on state institutions, while opposition groups and civil society actors framed it as a spontaneous act of public outrage.
The EU delegation to Georgia had earlier called on “all sides to refrain from violence”, a statement that Papuashvili and other government officials criticized as equating protesters and law enforcement. The Speaker’s latest comments come amid increasingly strained relations between Tbilisi and Brussels, following the European Commission’s recent assessment that Georgia has experienced “democratic backsliding” and remains a “candidate country in name only.”
Papuashvili’s statement reflects the ruling Georgian Dream party’s growing narrative that Western partners are biased toward the opposition and that EU criticism is politically motivated.
