Parliament Speaker calls on EU to “officially distance itself” from “slanderous” MEP allegations
In a social media message, Papuashvili said a “huge gap of misunderstanding” about Saakashvili between “his foreign patrons and the Georgian people” was continuing to “harm our foreign relations”. Photo: Parliament of Georgia
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Georgian Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili on Thursday said the European Union “has to officially distance itself” from “slanderous” allegations made my members of the European Parliament, in response to an amendment introduced by MEP Anna Fotyga to a resolution to urge the Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili to pardon the imprisoned former President Mikheil Saakashvili.
In a social media message, Papuashvili said a “huge gap of misunderstanding” about Saakashvili between “his foreign patrons and the Georgian people” was continuing to “harm our foreign relations”.
“This is not new. We heard such calls before and we know that they are not leading anywhere. What the authors of such statements completely fail to understand is the overwhelmingly negative attitude towards Saakashvili and his foreign patrons among the Georgian public. While Saakashvili’s lobbyists hail Georgian ex-President’s ‘deeds’, for most Georgians things are diametrically opposite”, he said.
A huge gap of misunderstanding about Mikheil Saakashvili between his foreign patrons and the Georgian people continues to harm our foreign relations. Recently, the European Parliament adopted a resolution, which includes a paragraph where the MEPs call for Saakashvili’s early… pic.twitter.com/cCqcVXvYBN
— Shalva Papuashvili ???????? (@shpapuashvili) February 29, 2024
Moreover, such inexplicable statements from Western politicians create a certain cognitive dissonance, where people start asking how the democratic West may still support a widely despised authoritarian figure. This also raises suspicions as to whether the hailed ‘Western values’ are a mere ruse for promoting certain geopolitical objectives”, he continued.
The lawmaker claimed an “even greater cause of bewilderment” for Georgian citizens was the “hypocritical behaviour” of Saakashvili’s “foreign friends and protectors” when it came to democracy in Georgia.
“Despite mass human rights violations between 2003 and 2012, these foreigners remained loyal to Saakashvili, virtually never raising their voice against his excesses. Conversely, despite Georgian Dream’s impressive democratic record since 2012, the same foreigners have vilified the Georgian Government for over a decade now. Fortunately, Georgian people know where the truth is”, he continued.
Papuashvili further added that “our question to the EU” was whether the bloc “shares common values with Georgian people or MEPs’ particularistic interests”.