Georgian PM: Georgia remains committed to founding values of European Union

Georgian prime minister Irakli Kobakhidze on Wednesday said that, in his view, Germany’s ambassador Peter Fischer and EU Ambassador Paweł Herczyński are “not European in terms of values”, despite being geographically part of Europe.

As the head of government noted, the vast majority of European states have lost their sovereignty, there is degradation in terms of human rights, and economic stagnation is also reflected in numbers.

“We have never said that we are the only Europeans; such absurdity might characterise the German ambassador, but such absurd statements do not characterise us. However, we must remind Mr. Fischer of one thing: we too are Europeans, and the principles and values upon which the European Union was founded are valuable to us - unlike Mr. Fischer, who does not dare to evaluate what happened in Denmark. Consequently, for us, Mr. Fischer specifically is not a European at all. Being European does not mean geographical belonging. [...] Therefore, when it comes to values, yes, of course, we claim to be Europeans, unlike these people who in reality have no claim to being European; they directly oppose the very values that Europe has embodied throughout the recent decades. It is precisely the actions of such people that have resulted in the degradation we see in terms of both democracy and human rights. The vast majority of European states have lost their sovereignty. There is degradation in terms of human rights, and there is economic stagnation, which is directly expressed in numbers. We have spoken many times about how the EU's share in the global economy was 30 percent in 2008, and this 30 percent has dropped to 17.5 percent. All of this is measured mathematically”, Kobakhidze stated.

According to him, the regression in terms of democracy and human rights cannot be measured mathematically, but in reality, the European Union has experienced a regression of exactly the same scale, especially after 2008.

“Since 2008, there has been stagnation, degradation, and regression in all directions, and if the European bureaucracy continues to move in the same direction, of course, this regression and degradation will not only fail to stop but, on the contrary, will deepen even further. Therefore, our modest advice to the European bureaucracy is to care more, if they have the resources for it, about the objective interests of Europe and the objective interests of the EU population. We want membership in such a European Union where the trends that were previously very clearly expressed are restored. I am speaking about positive trends in terms of democracy, human rights, economic prosperity, and so on”, he concluded.