Georgian Parliament official: despite better rankings, Georgia labeled lagging while Ukraine and Moldova praised

Irakli Kadagishvili, the Chair of the Georgian Parliament’s Regional Policy and Self-Government Committee, on Friday said Georgia was unfairly portrayed as lagging behind Ukraine and Moldova despite ranking among Europe’s top 20 countries in terms of freedom from corruption.

In his remarks, Kadagishvili claimed that while Ukraine and Moldova faced more severe corruption challenges, they were paradoxically described as regional leaders, whereas Georgia was depicted as lagging behind.

“By the scale of corruption, Ukraine ranks first, Moldova second, while Georgia is in Europe's best top 20. But they tell us that these two countries are the leaders and we are the laggards”, he said.

The official described this mismatch as lacking objectivity and driven by political motivations.

“Why? This is not about objectivity here. This is a kind of revenge related to the fact that they failed to bring in such a puppet Government here that would easily agree to open a second front [amid the ongoing war in Ukraine]”, Kadagishvili concluded.