Georgian speaker slams EU report, vows to continue accession efforts
Georgian Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili, a leading figure in the ruling Georgian Dream party, has lashed out at the latest EU enlargement report, which says Georgia’s integration process has “effectively come to a halt” over the past year, News.Az reports, citing Georgian media.
“Blackmail and pressure on Georgia will not work. We will not surrender!” Papuashvili said, commenting on the report released by the European Commission on Tuesday.
The document expresses “serious concern over the sharp deterioration of the situation in Georgia” and claims the country is backsliding on key democratic standards.
Despite the criticism, Papuashvili said the government would continue preparing the country for EU membership.
“Georgia will continue preparing the country for membership in the European Union — not for the European Union that the current Brussels bureaucracy has deprived of European substance, turning it into just a union, but for the European Union whose goal is to restore European values,” he said.
He attributed the report to a “decline of values in Brussels,” adding that Georgian Dream would continue to “expose injustice” and “show the truth.”
“The current Brussels bureaucracy is stripping the EU of its European substance,” he repeated.
Papuashvili pointed to Hungary and Slovakia as Georgia’s allies within the bloc, adding that the Czech Republic had recently joined them. According to him, these are countries that refuse to “blindly obey Brussels’ directives.”
“We are witnessing a real awakening in Europe, as countries one after another choose governments and strategies that return the EU to a system of true values, rejecting the unjust and inappropriate interference of Brussels in internal affairs, national values, the will of the people, true democracy, and the rule of law,” he said.
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