“EU must abandon attempts to undemocratically overthrow gov’t in Georgia” - Georgian Parliament Speaker calls on EU to take specific steps to repair ties

The steps that Brussels must take to restore relations with Georgia are simple, the first being to abandon attempts to undemocratically overthrow the government in Georgia, said on Thursday Georgian Parliament speaker Shalva Papuashvili.

In his remarks, Papuashvili addressed questions regarding Armenia-EU relations and commented on recent remarks made by the prime minister of Armenia in the European Parliament.

“This is a matter of Armenia-European Union relations - what issues they discuss, what they request, and what they appeal to. We have our own relationship with the European Union”, he said.

Papuashvili was responding to a question about the speech delivered in the European Parliament by Armenian prime minister Nikol Pashinyan, who said during his address that “Georgia is our path to the European Union. We expect and ask that a constructive process develop between the European Union and Georgia”.

The speaker highlighted that the European Union knows well “what it must do to restore relations with Georgia”.

Papuashvili listed the steps he believed were necessary.

“The European Union arbitrarily and unprovokedly hindered Georgia-EU relations. Therefore, the ball is in Brussels’ court - they must fix what they themselves damaged. We cannot repair what they broke. Our position is public and open. They should correct what they disrupted, and we are ready for these relations to return to a working process”, he said.

Papuashvili stressed that the first step Brussels must take was to abandon attempts to change the government in Georgia through undemocratic means.

“This is a fundamental issue because we cannot accept anti-democratic actions from Brussels. Such attempts mean imposing decisions on the Georgian people. Therefore, the first thing Brussels must do is stop encouraging a change of government in Georgia through undemocratic means”, he said.

He added that the second step should be ending covert funding and sanction-circumvention schemes in Georgia.

“Brussels must abandon covert financing in Georgia and schemes for bypassing sanctions, which we suspect exist today, including due to the large number of NGOs registered abroad. We suspect there are schemes coming from Europe - I don’t know whether from Brussels or certain capitals - to bypass sanctions. While we respect the European Union’s sanctions, we see that our own sanctions are not being respected and that there are attempts to circumvent them”, Papuashvili stated.

He further emphasised that Brussels should stop what he described as anti-Georgian rhetoric and propaganda.

“Brussels must end anti-Georgian rhetoric, which damages bilateral relations, and abandon funding and producing propaganda against Georgia. These are simple steps. Brussels knows what it needs to do to restore relations with Georgia to the level they once were”, the speaker concluded.