GD Quits Future Euronest PA Sessions, Cites Resolution, MEPs’ ‘Hostile’ Agenda

Georgian Dream will boycott future sessions of the Euronest Parliamentary Assembly (PA), Georgia’s disputed Parliament Speaker, Shalva Papuashvili, said, citing what he described as European Parliament members’ “hostile and narrow political approaches,” and a recent Euronest resolution that, among other things, called Georgia’s 2024 parliamentary elections “rigged,” labeled the Georgian Dream government “self-proclaimed,” and urged authorities to release “political prisoners.”

Shalva Papuashvili, referring to the recent Euronest PA session in Yerevan, in which the Georgian Dream delegation refused to participate, wrote on social media platforms on November 1 that the Assembly’s resolutions included provisions added by “some Members of the European Parliament, known for their hostile, unfair and politically biased attitudes toward Georgia,” which he said were “utterly unacceptable and outrageous for Georgian society.”

“Among them, one of the resolutions refers to the parliamentary elections of 26 October 2024 as ‘rigged,’ and describes the government elected by the people as ‘self-proclaimed,'” Papuashvili said, addding, “It also labels as ‘political prisoners’ those individuals who attacked police officers and state institutions and who have been convcited by the court, thereby completely disregarding the very essence of the rule of law.”

The Euronest Parliamentary Assembly’s October 30 resolution condemned what it called the “Georgian Dream regime’s systemic assault on Georgia’s democratic institutions, political opposition, independent media, civil society, and academic and judicial independence;” deplored the “rigged” October 26, 2024, parliamentary elections and said it would not recognize the “self-proclaimed authorities” of the Georgian Dream; strongly denounced the “brutal suppression of peaceful protests” and the “arbitrary detentions of ordinary citizens, journalists, activists and political leaders alike”; urged the authorities to release “all political prisoners,” specifically insisting on the “immediate and unconditional release” of jailed journalist Mzia Amaghlobeli and the withdrawal of charges against her; said it “deeply regretted” Georgian Dream’s abandonment of the EU and NATO path; and criticized legislation adopted by the ruling party targeting civil society, minorities and the media.

In response, Papuashvili said the European Parliament had turned Euronest “into an instrument of blackmail and a means of forcibly imposing its narrow political agenda on its neighboring countries.”

“It is categorically unacceptable when the Euronest neglects the will of the Georgian people and, going beyond its founding mandate, seeks to annul elections and democratic institutions of its member country,” he added.

“Therefore, considering the hostile and narrow political approaches of these forces of the European Parliament, Georgia’s standing parliamentary delegation will not take part in next sessions of the Euronest Parliamentary Assembly,” Papuashvili said, adding that the delegation would be ready to re-engage “should the European Parliament create appropriate conditions for constructive dialogue.”

He called on the European Parliament to “abandon its narrow political agenda and respect the rules-based international order,” calling its current approach “anti-democratic” and “a direct path to the self-isolation and marginalization of the Euronest Parliamentary Assembly.”

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