“The resolution which the European Parliament will adopt today goes beyond our accustomed disappointment,” Georgian Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili said at a briefing.
He claimed that the EP’s fourth resolution on Georgia adopted since the beginning of the war in Ukraine is based on “false narratives and personal attacks.”
“The message, which urges the imposing of sanctions on Bidzina Ivanishvili, is disturbing. This is the EP’s third resolution, where certain forces utilize EU institutions to attack Bidzina Ivanishvili and incite political retribution on the person whose role and merit are indefinite in preserving peace in Georgia and not making the country a place of geopolitical conflict. It seems that the resolution authors realized that their obsessed interest in Bidzina Ivanishvili is not serious and this time also brought Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze into it.
“The text on Mikheil Saakashvili is shameful, through which the EU, yet another time and with unlawful pressure, tries to ‘rescue’ him from fair punishment. I remind those MEPs, for whom the support of the resolution is mere statistics, that we are speaking about an individual, who, as the European Court confirmed, established a system of torture in Georgian prisons, closed TV stations, and left thousands of people as victims of the system’s tragic outcomes. It is shameful that Georgian people continue to watch these European politicians for 20 years, who covered up Saakashvili’s crimes and now attempt to rescue him from jail unconditionally.
“It is disgusting to openly demand the imposition of bilateral sanctions on Russia in the EU’s first official resolution. However, it is good that it is finally out in the open, since the resolution authors previously avoided speaking about sanctions publicly. This resolution made it clear to the Georgian population that the Georgian government had been under pressure for a long time, and this was what certain actors insisted on behind doors for 2.5 years.
“Society has to know that Georgia’s imposition of bilateral sanctions would not harm Russia. On the contrary, if our government met this or other requirements, Georgia and the Georgian people would fall into guaranteed economic collapse and face the risk of military confrontation.
“The resolution, seeing representatives of countries protected under the EU and NATO security umbrella voicing remands and demanding escalation from Georgia, which is neither shielded by the EU nor NATO, clearly demonstrates how they care about the Georgian people’s fate.
“The resolution’s initiation by certain EU groups mere days before the elections is an attempt to shape the voters’ will, and categorically contradicts our common European values.
“Yesterday’s discussion also showed that, fortunately, common sense can be found in the EU that gradually and with time will stop the trend diverting from European values. I want to thank these people for the correct assessments and support for the Georgian people.
“Once again, I want to call on all foreign actors to respect our sovereign right to hold elections free of foreign influence, which is the fundamental principle of the rules-based international order.
“My firm expectation is that the European Parliament will respect the choice made by the Georgian people on October 26, and I urge the opposition and EU-financed organizations to accept the Georgian people’s choice as the verdict of democracy,” the Speaker concluded.
14 members of the European Parliament prepared a draft resolution on Georgia, which, among other demands, calls for sanctions against Russia, sanctioning Ivanishvili and other individuals, the release of Saakashvili, and the repeal of the Law On Family Values. The draft is titled “On the backsliding of democracy and threats to political pluralism in Georgia.”
Related story: Draft resolution: EP expects a peaceful transfer of power from the “Dream”
