Georgian Parliament Speaker slams ALDE resolution, warns of “Soviet breeze turned into storm” in EU institutions

This is the regrettable influence we are witnessing in Brussels - a certain Sovietisation, a Soviet wind that has turned into a storm in the corridors of various Brussels institutions, said on Monday Georgian Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili, commenting on the resolution adopted by the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) regarding Georgia.

In his remarks, Papuashvili noted that calling Georgia’s local elections fraudulent “effectively means disregarding the votes of one and a half million Georgian citizens who participated in them”.

“The ALDE resolution speaks for itself, as its member parties include [domestic opposition parties] Girchi, Droa, Lelo, and others that were planning to overthrow the government in Georgia and have rejected democracy. They labeled the local elections as fraudulent. Yet their member party, Lelo, participated in those elections, received mandates, and intends to use them. How, then, can these elections be fraudulent - that’s another question”, he said.

“Another aspect caught my attention - ALDE’s leaders include European Commissioner for Foreign Affairs Kaja Kallas and European Commissioner for Enlargement Marta Kos. As we saw, they took part in this congress. The question is legitimate: do Ms. Kallas and Ms. Kos also claim that our local elections were fraudulent? It is important to hear their explanations, because saying so effectively nullifies the votes of one and a half million Georgian citizens”, Papuashvili continued.

He further added that the ongoing processes in Brussels resembled the Soviet era.

“With this resolution, the party is telling us that those who took part in the elections are nothing, that we are zero, and that only someone like Shushana Matsaberidze matters to the ALDE Party. She represents ‘the people’, and we are nothing. That’s the problem - we look toward the European Union, toward Brussels, and we clearly see the Soviet era reflected. Back then, we were treated as a non-existent, abolished people and country, unable to speak for ourselves, while a ‘second secretary’ was appointed to veto everything. That’s exactly what they want now - to have their own ‘second secretaries’ impose vetoes on everything”, the Speaker noted.

“Incidentally, both Ms. Kallas and Ms. Kos come from post-Soviet, post-communist republics and were born during the existence of the Soviet Union. This is the regrettable influence we are witnessing in Brussels - a certain Sovietisation, a Soviet wind that has turned into a storm in the corridors of various Brussels institutions”, Papuashvili concluded.

The Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) on Saturday adopted a resolution at its party congress in Brussels condemning what it described as “rigged elections” in Georgia and calling on the European Union to impose targeted sanctions.