Speaker Denounces Visit of Key European MPs, Refuses to Meet Them

Parliamentary Speaker Shalva Papuashvili reacted to the visit by the EU countries’ key parliamentarians by denouncing the visit, saying he refused to meet with them and lashing out at “some members of the delegation” for what he called “publicly campaigning against Georgia’s ruling party and in support of the opposition”.  A delegation of senior lawmakers from EU member countries arrived in Tbilisi on November 11, following the October 26 controversial Parliamentary elections, which many local observers said were marred by numerous systemic violations and irregularities.

Papuashvili wrote on his X (Twitter) page that the delegation “requested a series of meetings with Chairman and committee chairs of the Georgian Parliament”, however he was “really surprised” to find out that the delegation intended to meet “the entire political and parliamentary leadership of Georgia despite their track-record of personal hostilities to Georgian Government and society.“

He claimed that “the whole idea of the visit is political partisanship” and accused “some of the delegation members” of “continuously and purposefully violated Georgian legislation by publicly campaigning against Georgia’s governing party and in support of the opposition,” which he said is prohibited by Georgian Constitution and electoral legislation as “interference in the elections.”

He further recalled the instance when several EU member states foreign ministers met with the anti-Foreign Agents’ law rally participants in spring of this year, saying they “challenged the very essence of rules-based international order, which they seem to cherish only rhetorically.”      

He slammed “some members” of the delegation without naming anybody in particular, for “spreading disinformation narratives against the Georgian people”, citing the “notorious case of conditions of Mikheil Saakashvili’s imprisonment” and claimed that this “encouraged the radical part of the opposition to deepen political polarization, “damaged the image of Georgia abroad” and is  “impairing our populations’ trust in the goodwill of our Western partners.”

Blaming “some delegation members” for weakening GD efforts in “maintaining peace and democratic stability in Georgia” Papuashvili declared that “It looks oxymoron to lecture on Europe as a peace project while at the same time stir instability in the country in the name of Europe. “

He further alleged that the Georgian society “clearly responded to the foreign interference on the October 26 elections with another landslide victory for Georgian Dream.” Claiming that “ignoring” election results “is the road the opposition has been taking for years; and the Georgian society got used to this” Papuashvili laments that “when they [society] see democracy denial from European politicians, it ultimately damages the trust and credibility in the European Union”

“With this in mind, I find it impossible to accept the request,” Shalva Papuashvili writes, expressing “appreciation” for “other members of the delegation as well as “readiness for continuing the dialogue within the fundamental tenets of parliamentary diplomacy and norms, based on equality and respect for sovereignty.”

As this news was being written it became known that the delegation members will join the protest rally planned on November 11, at 19:00.

The members of the delegation:  Marko Mihkelson, Estonia, Chair of Foreign Affairs Committee; Jukka Kopra, Finland, Chair of Defence Committee; Frédéric Petit, France, Deputy Chair of European Affairs Committee, National Assembly;  Michael Roth, Germany, Chair of Bundestag Foreign Affairs Committee; Ināra Mūrniece, Latvia, Chair of Foreign Affairs Committee;  Žygimantas Pavilionis, Lithuania, Deputy Speaker, Chair of European Affairs Committee;  Michał Kamiński, Poland, Deputy Marshal of the Senate of the Republic of Poland; Erik Ottoson, Sweden, Chair of the Committee on European Union Affairs

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