Georgian Speaker calls recent European Parliament session “civilisational abyss”

Georgian Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili described the European Parliament session of December 17 as a “civilisational abyss,” according to Georgian media cited by Caliber.Az.

“If anyone is curious about what this civilisational abyss entails, they need only watch yesterday’s session of the European Parliament; it vividly illustrates the depths to which Europe is descending. We saw a disturbing mixture of everything rooted in Europe’s dark history: contempt, civilisational arrogance, and a sense of superiority, accompanied by lies, propaganda, and disinformation, all voiced from the rostrum of the European Parliament,” Papuashvili remarked.

He added that both the citizens of the European Union and the Georgian people, who aspire to join the EU and are proud creators of European values, are disappointed with the current state of European institutions.

“Of course, this represents the greatest disappointment, first and foremost, of the citizens of the European Union, who see their institutions diverging from the will of the European peoples. Instead, they seem to have become mere instruments of geopolitical and globalist agendas whispered into their ears by unofficial powers," the chief legislator added. 

The remarks came in response to a heated plenary debate on Georgia’s democratic backsliding, the recent adoption of the controversial “foreign agents” law, and the suspension of EU accession talks. Several MEPs from liberal and green groups accused the ruling Georgian Dream party of authoritarian tendencies and of deliberately sabotaging the country’s European integration path.

Papuashvili’s statement echoes the position of Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze and other senior Georgian Dream officials, who have repeatedly described Western criticism as interference in Georgia’s internal affairs and an attempt to impose foreign agendas.

By Khagan Isayev