Parliament Chairman Calls on EU to Distance Itself from MEPs' 'Defamatory' Statements
By Liza Mchedlidze
Friday, March 1, 2024
The Chairman of the Parliament, Shalva Papuashvili, addressed the European Union in an open letter, stating that it is time for the EU to officially distance itself from the "defamatory statements" made by MEPs.
Papuashvili responded to the amendment made by the Polish MEP Anna Fotyga to the resolution of the European Parliament, calling on President of Georgia Salome Zourabichvili to pardon imprisoned ex-president Mikheil Saakashvili.
"Recently, the European Parliament adopted a resolution that included a paragraph where the MEPs demand Saakashvili's early release from legal custody on 'humanitarian grounds', whatever that means. MEP Anna Fotyga, the alleged author of the amendment, noted that the ex-president of Georgia is 'Putin's personal enemy and prisoner'. A few days ago, at the last Munich Security Conference, Polish Foreign Minister Sikorski made a similar sad comment about Saakashvili when he also demanded Saakashvili's release and called him 'a symbol of Georgia's modernization'.
This is not news. We have heard such appeals before, and we know that they are futile. The authors of such statements do not understand the negative attitude of the majority of Georgian society towards Saakashvili and his foreign patrons. While Saakashvili's lobbyists hail the 'merits' of the ex-president of Georgia, for most Georgians, everything is diametrically opposed. Moreover, such inexplicable statements by Western politicians cause a certain cognitive dissonance, as people begin to question how a democratic West can still support an authoritarian figure. It also raises doubts as to whether the declared 'Western values' are merely a gimmick to achieve certain geopolitical goals." Papuashvili wrote.
Parliament Chairman urged the European Union to distance itself from 'defamatory' statements made by MEPs, questioning whether the EU shares common values or is influenced by the 'narrow' interests of MEPs. He emphasized the importance of Georgia's European and Euro-Atlantic integration for the future.
"The time has come for the European Union to officially dissociate itself from the defamatory statements of MEPs. Our question to the European Union is whether they share our common values or are they subject to the narrow interests of MEPs. We believe that our main task is the European and Euro-Atlantic integration of Georgia. We have to think about the future," wrote Papuashvili.
