Georgia will chart its own course in Europe, avoiding Ukrainian or Moldovan model, says Georgian Parliament Speaker

Georgian Parliament speaker Shalva Papuashvili on Friday said the Georgian Government was ready to engage in debate on any issue, including European integration, but stressed that the country’s path differed fundamentally from that of Ukraine and Moldova.

Papuashvili was responding to a question regarding an initiative by two political groups - People’s Power and United Neutral Georgia - calling for a discussion on whether European integration served Georgia’s sovereign interests in the new global reality.

He noted that the Government was open to discussion with all groups, including those who believed that reforms in higher education were unnecessary or that European integration involved risks.

“We are ready to debate any issue”, the Parliament Speaker said.

Papuashvili further emphasised the importance of ensuring that Georgia was not harmed in the process of European integration.

“We do not seek EU membership simply for Georgia to be marked as a member while the country itself is destroyed. We see what is happening in Ukraine and Moldova - the destruction of institutions, and beyond that, the destruction of the state. The Moldovan president is even talking about abolishing the country”, he noted.

The Speaker stressed that the Ukrainian and Moldovan model was unacceptable for Georgia.

“Of course, the Ukrainian and Moldovan path is not our path. We are moving along a different path - one of statehood, independence, and respect for our national interests. That is why it is important not to confuse Euro-integration with subordination or entry into a union resembling the Soviet model, where there was a center in Moscow and now some want a center in Brussels”, he continued.

Papuashvili argued that today’s Brussels had deviated from the values on which Georgia stood and that current EU policies contradicted Georgian values.

He further stressed the need for changes within Brussels and a return to what he described as true European values aligned with Georgian ones.

The Speaker also referred to the Constitution of Georgia, noting that while Article 78 defined European integration as a constitutional objective, it was preceded by Article 77, which emphasised independence and the autonomy of state institutions.

“We do not intend to allow Brussels to interfere in our constitutional bodies or appoint judges and prosecutors from Brussels”, Papuashvili said.

He concluded by stressing that open discussion was important to fully understand the complexity of the path toward European integration and to address existing risks with firm and sovereign responses.