Georgian Parliament Speaker: European Parliament debate on Georgia echoed Soviet-era Congress of People’s Deputies

Georgian Parliament speaker Shalva Papuashvili on Thursday criticised a recent debate in the European Parliament concerning Georgia, saying it resembled the style and tone of the Soviet-era Congress of People’s Deputies.

Speaking to the media, Papuashvili said both the content and the aesthetics of the debate reminded him of the Soviet political environment. According to him, the process of what he described as the “Sovietization” of the European Parliament is nearing completion.

He specifically compared the debate to the congress held in Moscow in 1989 after the events of the April 9 tragedy in Tbilisi, when Soviet deputies criticised and attacked Georgian representatives.

“Both the intonation and the tone were reminiscent of the Congress of People’s Deputies held in Moscow in 1989 after April 9. Those who remember that period may recall how deputies from various Soviet republics were insulting and attacking Georgians. What we saw yesterday was very similar”, the speaker said.

He added that several European lawmakers were representatives of what he described as the “Soviet camp”, including Rasa Juknevičienė, whom he accused of making “fascist statements” toward Georgians.

“Let me remind you that she uses terms such as ‘infection’ and ‘it is the people’s fault’. This is typical fascist terminology that she uses toward Georgians. I would also remind you that on October 4 she encouraged and supported a violent overthrow. There were also other deputies representing Baltic countries”, Papuashvili stated.

The Parliament speaker said Georgians expected a European Union based on values but instead received what he described as rhetoric resembling the Soviet congress.

“We wanted the European Union and Brussels based on values, but what we received was the Congress of People’s Deputies of the Soviet Union, which is increasingly moving backwards even in the history of the Soviet Union itself. For now, it resembles the period of 1989, when Mikhail Gorbachev was implementing perestroika. They are still at the level of perestroika, but we can see the tendency is moving further back, likely toward [Leonid] Brezhnev”, Papuashvili noted.

“So, Georgians should understand that today the European Parliament, in terms of its aesthetics, content and values, is becoming increasingly similar to the Congress of People’s Deputies of the Soviet Union”, he concluded.