Georgian PM accuses European bureaucracy of applying double standards

Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze on Wednesday accused the European bureaucracy of applying double standards by praising Moldova as a “new beacon of democracy” while subjecting Georgia to “blackmail” over issues like visa liberalisation.

In his remarks, Kobakhidze compared Georgia’s progress to Moldova’s, highlighting Georgia’s economic and institutional advancements.

“This is yet another expression of double standards. Let’s compare Moldova to our country once again. That country is mired in corruption, has extremely weak institutions, is a member of the CIS, and has not imposed sanctions [on Russia] either. As for the economy, over the past four years, from 2021 to 2024, we have widened the gap with Moldova’s economy by more than 11 billion dollars. This means the difference between our budgets has grown by over 3 billion dollars. That’s the extent of the gap between Georgia and Moldova”, the PM said.

“Anyone who was an opposition figure has been expelled from their Parliament. There is neither political pluralism nor media pluralism [in Moldova]. There are only two channels: one is Public Broadcaster 1, the other is Public Broadcaster 2, which in reality are the state television channels directly serving the Government”, he continued.

Despite these issues, Kobakhidze noted, Moldova was celebrated as a democratic success, much like Mikheil Saakashvili’s Government was at the time, while Georgia faces threats over visa liberalisation despite its documented successes.

“This is the situation in Moldova, yet Moldova has been declared a new beacon of democracy, just as Saakashvili’s Government was in its time, and Georgia is being subjected to blackmail. This demonstrates double standards, and one of the reasons for these double standards is that the European bureaucracy is not independent. It operates entirely under the dictate of external forces”, the PM concluded.