Georgian Parliament Speaker says EU would go beyond sanctions if it had the chance

Georgian Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili on Wednesday accused Brussels and several European capitals of attempting to impose sanctions on Georgia, claiming that if they had the opportunity, they would go even further.

In his remarks, Papuashvili claimed that “if it were up to them, they would even bring tanks here to establish ‘democracy’”.

“Brussels and some capitals would not only impose sanctions on us - if it were up to them, they would even bring tanks here to establish ‘democracy’”, the Speaker said.

Papuashvili further stressed that certain actors lack the ability to carry out such actions at the moment, but he suggested that some would not hesitate to do so if given the chance.

“We have witnessed several years of continuous attacks against the Georgian people in order to install a puppet regime in Georgia. These attacks included economic and political pressure, as well as assaults on our security systems. All of this was orchestrated from abroad, unfortunately from the heart of Europe”, he continued.

Despite these pressures, Papuashvili argued that Georgia has achieved strong results in economic development and institutional governance.

“The result is that Georgia is a leader in terms of economic growth indicators and the strength of governing institutions. Another index was published yesterday, showing that we are ‘backsliding’ so much that we are ahead of seven EU countries. I don’t know what kind of backsliding it is when we are ahead of seven EU countries, ten NATO countries, and all candidate countries that have opened negotiations”, the Speaker said.

He concluded by stating that these developments demonstrate what he described as a “farce” and a mismatch of values, claiming that Georgia benefits only positively from the ongoing process.