Georgian Parliament Speaker: we have no problem with Europe or EU, but with Brussels distorting EU values

Georgian Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili on Tuesday said that European Commissioner for Enlargement Marta Kos had once again demonstrated what he described as the attitude currently prevailing in Brussels toward EU candidate countries.

In an interview with the Georgian Public Broadcaster, Papuashvili said there was growing discussion about the possibility of admitting new EU members under conditions that would prevent them from becoming full members.

He added that Brussels was leading the European Union toward what he called a “civilizational abyss” that needed to be addressed.

“You know there is discussion that this issue will be clarified by the end of the year and that a proposal should soon become known - that new members will be admitted under certain conditions, meaning they will not be full members. It appears they want to offer candidate countries some kind of two-tier EU membership: those who are, so to speak, the more privileged, aristocratic members of the EU, and the less privileged, new members”, the Speaker said.

“We have heard truly astonishing proposals, such as denying them the right of veto. You sit around a table supposedly as equals, but when it comes to fundamental issues such as foreign policy, finances and so on, others make decisions on your behalf and you have no say. Another country is sitting next to you as a full member, while you are not. This is where such ideas are heading”, Papuashvili continued.

He further said that Kos’s call for countries to refrain from engaging with the MAGA movement - and, by extension, from maintaining relations with US President Donald Trump - was directed at EU candidate countries rather than member states.

“So they themselves are supposed to have these relations, while candidate countries are treated as some kind of second-class people, countries or nations that are prohibited from having relations with MAGA”, the Speaker said.

“The same happened with China. Candidate countries are being told, or looked at suspiciously, for maintaining relations with China. Other candidate countries had told us about this before. We did not believe them at the time. We used to meet with countries in the Balkans, and they would tell us about the pressure Brussels was putting on them not to cooperate with China on certain infrastructure projects or take loans from China. They were warned that the terms would be burdensome and were told not to contract Chinese companies. They were told, ‘We will give you the money,’ and then the EU would provide the funding and contract with Chinese organisations itself”, he continued.

Papuashvili added that he had been told things he found so absurd that he could hardly believe them.

“But what we are now hearing from Brussels regarding China in our own case is exactly the same. Candidate countries are being told not to engage with China, while EU officials themselves travel to Beijing, hold meetings and discuss partnerships and trade relations, yet prohibit us from doing the same”, he said.

“What is happening in Brussels today once again demonstrates this truly astonishing attitude. This is precisely the civilizational abyss into which Brussels is leading the EU today, and it needs to be addressed”, Papuashvili added.

He further stressed that Georgia’s problem was not with Europe or the European Union, but with Brussels, which he accused of distorting EU values.

“When we talk about strained relations with Europe, we have nothing to divide us from Europe as a cultural and civilizational space. This is our space, and we are co-creators of it. For us, denying this would mean denying ourselves. We are among those who have shaped it. Georgia has contributed to many things that exist in Europe, including democracy. If you look at the beginning of the 20th century, where were elections held? Where was women’s suffrage introduced first? Georgia was at the forefront”, the Speaker said.

“We have no problem with the European Union either, because we fully share the founding documents and principles on which the EU is based, and that is why we want to become a member of this organisation. But we have a problem with Brussels. Brussels is distorting the EU’s values today and pushing the European Union away from the values on which it was founded”, Papuashvili continued.

He also referred to a referendum in Iceland, saying that, in his view, Brussels had effectively lost the vote.

“It was not a referendum on EU membership, but on opening negotiations. In other words, the Icelandic people did not even want negotiations with the European Union to begin. Why? The main issue was sovereignty. Then there was the claim that Icelanders had rejected their European future because of fishing regulations, as it is usually presented. There are fishing regulations, but the EU had told Iceland that it would establish special rules and conclude a special agreement allowing Iceland to retain its existing fishing regulations. They offered this exception and made that commitment, but what did the people do? Why did Brussels lose the referendum? They did not believe it. That is the key issue”, he said.

“Through its reckless conduct, Brussels has lost the trust of European people. Iceland is a good example of this, as demonstrated by the referendum. If we look at elections within countries - in Germany, France and elsewhere - this is a direct manifestation not only of the domestic political failures of parties that govern these countries incorrectly, but also of those parties’ foreign policy and, above all, EU-related policies. The latest election in Germany is precisely evidence of this, where the governing party suffered a catastrophic defeat”, Papuashvili concluded.