MEPs who passed a resolution demanding sanctions against members of the Georgian parliament for passing the law on foreign agents are deprived of European values, Speaker of the Georgian Parliament Shalva Papuashvili told reporters on April 24.
On April 23, some members of the European Parliament adopted a resolution demanding that sanctions be imposed against the founder of the ruling Georgian Dream party and the ruling party’s deputies if they approve the law “On the transparency of foreign influence.” They also demanded the release from prison of former Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili and threatened to cancel EU financial aid.
“It turned out that the release of Mikheil Saakashvili was a European price, we found out yesterday. It turned out that the attack on the policeman had European importance; We also heard this yesterday from this group. This is exactly what this group of MEPs does when they tell us that we do not correspond to European values: they mean that we do not support criminals, we do not attack the police, Mikheil Saakashvili is in prison as a criminal. It turns out that if we do this, we will contradict European values. “I think we see that this group is completely devoid of not only European values, but even human values.””Papuashvili commented on the resolution.
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He recalled that the same group of European deputies prepared a resolution in 2023 demanding the release of Saakashvili from prison, 577 members of the European Parliament voted in favor. Despite this, Georgia received EU candidate status in December 2023.
“As for the resolutions, we saw resolutions on the release of Saakashvili. I hope they record it now. What else could it be? Lessons from the past tell us that the same group told us that if Saakashvili is not released, there will be no candidate status.”stated the head of the Georgian parliament.
Recall that in March 2023, the ruling Georgian Dream party refused to pass a law on mandatory registration of non-governmental organizations whose annual budget consists of more than 20 percent foreign financing. This was preceded by riots that broke out during protests against the passage of the law and pressure from Western politicians.
In April 2024, the ruling party decided to resubmit the bill to parliament and it has already been approved in the first reading. Days of protests against the bill continue in Georgia.
Source: Rossa Primavera
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