Georgian Parliament Speaker sees ‘awakening in the West’, hails strengthening EU patriotic forces

Georgian Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili on Saturday expressed optimism over a perceived “awakening” in Western countries, pointing to the growing influence of patriotic forces and a renewed focus on national interests, patriotism, and Christian values in Europe and the United States.

In his remarks, Papuashvili argued that Western nations were beginning to reject ideologies he described as “false” and increasingly emphasise traditional values and patriotism.

“Fortunately, we see an awakening in the West. We have seen citizens in the United States wake up, rejecting the false ideologies that have spread everywhere and are now being uprooted by the Trump administration. Imagine if this were happening here – what the Trump administration has done, removing false ideologies about gender equality from one field, another, and so on. We haven’t reached that level yet, and if we did, imagine what kind of execution they would organise for us from abroad. They are essentially forced to uproot this, so to speak, with precision and fire”, he said.

The Speaker also pointed to European countries, including Hungary, Slovakia, Czechia, and Poland, as examples where patriotic and national forces were gaining influence.

“The USAID was practically dismantled, disbanded, and eliminated. People were really sent into the streets; such radical decisions had to be made that they themselves called for the abolishment of what they considered a fraudulent organisation. We also see this awakening in Europe: Hungary, Slovakia, Czechia, and now probably Poland is reflecting a bit on what is happening to them. In other countries as well, we see these forces gaining strength”, he noted.

He expressed hope that these developments would lead to closer alignment of the European Union with principles of national interest, patriotism, and Christian-inspired values.

“Therefore, we look with hope at the patriotic forces gaining strength in the European Union. And of course, we see our relationship with the EU and alignment in values when Brussels returns to national interests, patriotism, Christian values - not necessarily in a church sense, but in a value-based sense. When these values are restored, both Brussels and the political leadership of the EU in general will return to them”, Papuashvili concluded.