Romania, Italy, Spain Accuse GD PM Kobakhidze of Spreading Disinformation
Romania, Italy and Spain have rejected claims by Georgian Dream Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze that their representatives at Monday’s EU Foreign Affairs Council meeting opposed sanctions against members of the ruling Georgian Dream party. The countries reiterated their concern about the situation in Georgia and condemned the “inaccurate” information and “disinformation” spread by Irakli Kobakhidze.
“Deeply disappointed about the choice of presenting inaccurately internal discussions at EU level. We use this opportunity to reiterate our strong concern about the Georgian Government’s decision on EU accession dialogue and the violent repression of Georgian’s legitimate protests,” reads the Romanian Foreign Ministry’s statement. The Spokesperson for Romanian MFA further called the GD PM’s Kobakhidze’s statement “a blatant example of disinformation regarding Romania’s position on Georgia.”
Following the Romanian MFA’s social media post, the Italian Foreign Ministry also made a statement, noting that during the Foreign Affairs Council debate Italy – “reiterating the strongest condemnation against all violence that has occurred in the country in recent weeks” – supported the measures proposed by Kaja Kallas, the High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice-President of the European Commission, including sanctions and suspension of visa-free travel for diplomatic passports.
“Italy reiterated that the European Union must stand by the Georgian people and hoped that the most recent decisions in Tbilisi that ended up effectively suspending their European path could be reviewed,” stresses Italian MFA.
Finally, Spanish Foreign Ministry too took to social media to reject PM Kobakhidze’s claims, stating: “Spain has been very clear expressing its grave concern about civil rights in Georgia and about alleged disinformation campaigns. We have fully supported the decisions adopted yesterday by the FAC. Disinformation is a threat to our democracies that we will always oppose.”
The Foreign Affairs Council meeting was held on December 16, where the foreign ministers of the 27 EU member states discussed the situation in Georgia. While sanctions against GD officials were reportedly vetoed by Hungary and Slovakia, the EU Council asked the EU Commission to prepare the official document with a view to suspend visa-free travel for Georgian diplomatic passports. This decision only requires qualified majority of the block’s member states. On December 17, Irakli Kobakhidze claimed that Italy, Spain and Romania had also “defended the interests of the Georgian people” during the debate and opposed the HR/VP Kallas’ proposals. This post, shared on the Georgian government’s X (formerly Twitter) account, has already been flagged as disinformation.
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