Georgian parliamentary speaker blames Brussels for strained EU relations

Georgian Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili has said that current tensions between Georgia and the European Union stem from Brussels, arguing that EU institutions have drifted away from what he described as Europe’s traditional path and values. 

Papuashvili stated that, in his view, all existing problems in Georgia–EU relations originate in Brussels. He claimed that the EU leadership had “strayed from core European principles” and suggested that even some EU member states no longer regarded the current Brussels establishment as representing the true direction of Europe, Caliber.Az reports per Georgian media. 

He argued that Brussels should not “appropriate Europe for itself,” insisting that Georgia was as European as any EU member. Papuashvili also said he believed that Georgians were, in some respects, “even more” tied to European identity than certain nations whose statehood, he noted, was comparatively recent.

The parliamentary speaker added that he did not expect goodwill toward the Georgian public from the current political environment in Brussels. 

According to him, EU institutions did not accept Georgia as it is and preferred, as he put it, a Georgia that was “standing on one leg.”

By Sabina Mammadli