Georgian Parliament Speaker: EU must avoid creating second-class membership - changes should apply equally to all

Georgian Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili on Tuesday said that Georgia firmly opposes any form of differentiated or second-class membership in the European Union, emphasising that if the EU considers changing voting procedures, such reforms must apply equally to everyone and not disadvantage new members compared to existing ones.

Papuashvili stressed that all members of an organisation must have equal rights.

“Everyone has the same position regarding different degrees of membership - it is impossible to be a member of an organisation and be second-class”, he said.

The Speaker argued that the European Union should not put itself in a contradictory or comical situation by turning the principle “all are equal, but some are more equal” into reality.

“The European Union itself should not put itself in a comical situation, when, to avoid Orwell’s phrase, ‘all are equal, but some are more equal’, they do not turn it into reality”, Papuashvili concluded.