Georgian PM: unfair statements from EU officials hold no sway with Georgians

Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze on Tuesday harshly criticised Member of the European Parliament Rasa Juknevičienė, describing her as a “typical post-Soviet character”.

In his interview with the Georgian Public Broadcasting, Kobakhidze asserted that Juknevičienė “cannot teach anyone anything” because the Georgian public has come to understand that statements from MEPs or European Commissioners hold no value if they are unjust.

“Just four years ago, if a single Member of the European Parliament made a statement, it would cause public unrest; this was the perception in the Georgian public. The Georgian public understood that no statement by a Member of the European Parliament, no statement by a European Commissioner, etc. has any value if it is unfair. This injustice is so obvious that even if 600 Members of the European Parliament came to Georgia together, it would have no value if it was not fair”, the PM said.

“Who is Rasa Juknevičienė to teach anyone? She is a person with a typical post-Soviet nature, with everything, with her visual appearance, Russian accent, and so on. Frankly, you would think she's a representative of the Central Committee's Politburo, and from the old times, not even from the new times, exactly from that time, the 60s, Khrushchev's time, she has the visual of a Central Committee Politburo representative, she speaks like that, she acts like that. Of course, such people have no value in Georgia”, he concluded.