Georgian PM: suspending visa liberalisation not in EU’s interest, but EU leadership “unpredictable”

Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze on Monday said suspending visa liberalisation for Georgia would “in no way” serve the European Union's interests from a pragmatic standpoint, yet he described the current EU leadership as “absolutely unpredictable”.

In his interview with Rustavi 2 TV channel, Kobakhidze extended his gratitude to all countries that had expressed support for the Georgian people and their elected Government, and who opposed the idea of “punishing” the Georgian people.

“First and foremost, we thank every country that has expressed support for the Georgian people and their elected Government, and as foreign sources have noted, there were opposing views regarding the punishment of the Georgian people. Thank you once again to each of these countries”, the PM said.

“Today, the leadership of the European Union has become very unpredictable - I am referring to the EU authorities. The situation is similar to that of the Soviet leadership in the early 90s. There is truly no difference, especially regarding unpredictability. I believe they will still take a pragmatic step. Pragmatically speaking, it is not in the EU’s interest to suspend visa liberalisation for our country or its citizens. Yet, the EU leadership remains completely unpredictable. Therefore, we do not know what will happen, but we are calmly awaiting developments”, he noted.

Kobakhidze further emphasised that the Georgian people would not be deceived by what he described as repeated double standards and political manipulation by the European bureaucracy.

“Of course, no one can deceive the Georgian people either way, and the people’s reaction to injustice will be as strong as it was on October 26 last year [the parliamentary elections], when citizens got mobilised, turned out in unprecedented numbers at polling stations, supported the path of peace, and rejected the shameful double standards imposed by the European bureaucracy”, the PM continued.

He further assessed that while a certain segment of the population viewed securing a place in the visa queue as the highest priority and value, the majority had other priorities.

“The vast majority of the population clearly understands what the true national priorities are for our country: maintaining peace, ensuring stability, preserving values, developing the economy, and so forth. Ultimately, if someone’s highest priority is securing a place in the visa queue, they will naturally take to the streets in protest, but this will not represent the majority of the population. On the contrary, the overwhelming majority stand on the side of peace and stability”, Kobakhidze said.

“If this were the first attempt to deceive the people, the risk might have been greater. But after four years of shameful double standards and manipulations - denial of [EU membership] candidate status, failure to open accession talks, withholding approximately 70 million euros in loans prior to the elections, the labeling of the transparency law as a “Russian law”, and so on - the European bureaucracy has repeatedly tried to deceive the Georgian people with such disgraceful manipulations”, he continued.

The PM concluded by emphasising that the visa liberalisation issue itself had exhausted its use as a tool for blackmail.

“The situation here is very simple. Therefore, I still believe that the European bureaucracy will not take an entirely unpragmatic and counterproductive step. We will see what happens next. Ultimately, neither approach can rely on manipulation to achieve any meaningful results”, Kobakhidze concluded.