Georgian Parliament Speaker says some bureaucrats dragging EU towards Soviet path

Georgian Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili on Thursday strongly criticised the European Commission, alleging that it was condoning the violence that occurred during the December events.

Speaking to journalists, Papuashvili noted that the European Commission was “justifying the burning of the Parliament building, throwing Molotov cocktails at police officers, and the violence that was coming”.

Papuashvili further stressed that neither the Ambassador of the European Union nor the ambassadors of EU member states had condemned the violence.

The Parliament Speaker went on to claim that all the violence, threats, hate speech, and bullying were happening “in the name of the European Union, with the flag of the European Union, and with the solidarity of the EU representative ambassadors”.

He specifically cited instances where, according to him, the German and EU ambassadors showed solidarity with assailants of police officers.

“We are witnessing a dangerous trend in how the European Commission is responding to the December events - they are justifying the burning of Parliament, the throwing of Molotov cocktails at police, and the violence that followed”, the Speaker said.

“That has nothing to do with European values - in fact, it’s the exact opposite. This is a return to the ways of the Soviet Union, and we Georgians know very well what that means. That is why we are warning EU citizens, and we’re beginning to see some of them waking up to this reality - that certain Brussels bureaucrats are pushing the Union toward a Soviet-style path”, the Speaker concluded.