Georgian Parliament Speaker urges Brussels to “reject support for violence”, return to fundamental European values

Georgian Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili on Thursday urged Brussels to “reject support for violence” and return to fundamental European values such as respect for human rights and the rule of law.

In a social media message, Papuashvili criticised EU institutions for what he described as their refusal, over the past two months, to condemn the October 4 violent attack on the Georgian President’s Palace carried out by “extremist groups”, as well as their failure to distance themselves from those groups.

“Today is December 4. For two months, Brussels has refused to condemn the violent assault carried out on October 4 by extremist groups against the Georgian President’s Palace and to distance themselves from these groups. Not condemning violence encourages extremism; not condemning extremism encourages terrorism. We have already witnessed this cause-and-effect relationship in Georgia”, the Speaker said.