EU applicant's top MP compares bloc to USSR
The comments follow the European Commission's warning this week that Georgia's EU integration could be suspended unless the government returns to what Brussels calls a democratic path by the end of summer. The EU also threatened to revoke visa-free travel for Georgian citizens if the authorities fail to meet key conditions, including repealing the 'foreign agents' law and strengthening LGBTQ+ rights.
'We see direct interference in the Georgian elections,' Papuashvili said on Friday, as quoted by local media. 'It seems that some of the political elite [in Brussels] have taken some skills from the Soviet Union.'
Georgia – once part of the Soviet Union – applied for EU membership in March 2022, shortly after the escalation of the Ukraine conflict. It was granted candidate status in December 2023 but has since suspended accession talks, citing Brussels' increasingly coercive tone. The government, however, insists that it remains committed to eventual EU membership.
The ruling Georgian Dream party, which secured a strong majority in last October's vote, has repeatedly accused Western powers of meddling under the guise of promoting democracy.
Officials in Tbilisi have drawn parallels to the 2014 Maidan uprising in Ukraine and said similar tactics are being used to destabilize Georgia for refusing to adopt a confrontational stance against Russia in the Ukraine conflict. Moscow, which has denied any involvement in Georgia's internal affairs, has also drawn a parallel between the events in Georgia and the 2014 coup in Ukraine.
Following Georgian Dream's victory, a coalition of pro-Western parties alleged fraud and launched protests to force the government's resignation. The EU and US voiced support for the opposition, which the Georgian leadership denounced as foreign interference.
Papuashvili also criticized the EU's earlier decision to revoke visa privileges for diplomatic and service passport holders, calling it a breach of international law and the 2010 visa agreement. Georgia has enjoyed visa-free travel to the bloc since 2017.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Russia Today
7 hours ago
- Russia Today
Putin did better job than any German leader
The German people should be angry at their own government that ruined their country rather than at Russian President Vladimir Putin, US journalist Tucker Carlson has told the Berlin-based newspaper Bild. A large portion of the two‑hour interview released on Saturday was devoted to Carlson's interview with Putin from February 2024. During the exchange, the US journalist repeatedly curbed Bild deputy editor-in-chief Paul Ronzheimer's attempts to condemn the Russian leader over the Ukraine conflict. After Ronzheimer referred to Putin as a 'criminal,' Carlson replied: 'I am not defending Putin, who I think has done a great job for Russia. Much better job than any German leader. That is for sure.' 'Your country is going down, Russia is going up. You should be mad at your own leaders. You are mad at Putin instead,' he argued. According to Carlson, Angela Merkel – who served as German chancellor from 2005 to 2021 – was far more deserving of being branded a 'criminal' because 'she wrecked your country through mass migration... It will not recover in your lifetime or mine.' Carlson suggested that the current authorities in Berlin are attacking Putin and Russia in order to distract the public from migration and economic problems in Germany, which is expected to end 2025 in recession for the third year in a row. 'Your country is a mess because your leaders suck. That is the fact. You are mad about that. So, they take your anger and they are like: 'Oh no, it is Putin's fault. It is Putin's fault.' Ok, got it,' he said. Earlier this month, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Germany was becoming 'dangerous again' for Russia, after German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius stated that Bundeswehr troops must be prepared to 'kill' Russian soldiers if necessary. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said earlier that by supporting Kiev in the conflict with Moscow 'Germany is sliding down the same slippery slope it already followed a couple of times in the last century – down toward its own collapse,' referring to the defeats suffered by the country in the First and Second World Wars.
Russia Today
8 hours ago
- Russia Today
Ex-PM ‘sad' Brits losing interest in Ukraine
Former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said he is 'quite sad' about what he describes as waning interest in the UK in supporting Ukraine. Speaking to The Telegraph at the Ukrainian embassy in London on Saturday, he lamented that support for Ukraine in the UK is declining. 'The interest in Ukraine and the appetite is so low nowadays. I find it quite sad,' Johnson said. When asked to evaluate how well current Prime Minister Keir Starmer's administration has handled the Ukraine conflict, he responded: 'There are a lot of domestic issues that are very difficult right now, and you can see why they're distracted.' Support among the British public for aid to Ukraine has fallen in recent years, polls suggest. A YouGov poll from February 2023 showed that nearly three-quarters of respondents believed the UK was not providing Kiev with enough aid, whereas only 3% thought it was giving too much. However, an Ipsos survey from this past February indicated that just over half of Britons supported the current level of aid, whereas nearly one in five said too much support was being provided. The UK has committed £18.3 billion ($24.5 billion) in total aid to Ukraine, including £13 billion ($17.4 billion) in military assistance. London has increasingly lobbied to deploy 'peacekeeping' troops to Ukraine in the event of a ceasefire as part of a so-called 'coalition of the willing.' Last week, Starmer's government announced that the coalition would set up permanent headquarters in Paris to coordinate with Kiev to 'regenerate land forces' for Ukraine and 'secure' its skies with fighter jets if there is a cessation in the hostilities. Moscow has stressed that it views the initiative as preparation for a military intervention and warned that it views any NATO troops – under the guise of peacekeepers or not – in Ukraine as hostile. Johnson resigned as UK prime minister in 2022, a few months after the escalation of the conflict. He torpedoed the first peace talks between Moscow and Kiev in Istanbul that year by convincing the latter to withdraw from the negotiations, according to the Ukrainian head negotiator at the time, David Arakhamia.
Russia Today
10 hours ago
- Russia Today
Putin reveals threat to Russian sovereignty
Russia would inevitably lose its sovereignty if it relies solely on oil and gas revenues and abandons domestic production in favor of imports, President Vladimir Putin has said. In an interview with journalist Pavel Zarubin released on Sunday, Putin defended Russia's decades-long effort to localize automobile manufacturing, saying it was essential for protecting the country's economic and political autonomy. He recalled that in the 1990s many of his government colleagues wanted to abandon efforts to develop the car industry and instead rely on foreign-made vehicles, a view that he opposed. 'We must talk about technological independence… If we buy everything with the oil and gas [revenues] – and now they [the West] are trying to cut us off from oil and gas – then Russia will simply lose its competitiveness, and with it, its sovereignty,' he said. According to Putin, efforts to improve the domestic car industry began with cooperation with Western partners that were licensed to build assembly plants in Russia. Starting in the early 2010s, the authorities gradually tightened localization requirements, demanding that automakers produce more components domestically. 'This was serious work. We were essentially creating our own cars,' Putin remarked, adding that the effort paid off after the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in 2022, which saw an exodus of Western companies from Russia as Kiev's backers introduced sanctions against Moscow. Russia sold about 1.571 million new passenger cars in 2024 (up 48%), with Lada accounting for roughly 28% (436,155 units) and remaining the market leader, according to the analytical agency Autostat. However, all others spots in the top ten were occupied by Chinese brands. Russia's Kamaz also distributed the most trucks in the country last year, despite an overall drop in sales, the agency said. Putin has personally promoted the domestic automobile industry and has often been seen driving Lada and Kamaz vehicles. He also uses a limousine from the Russian luxury brand Aurus as his presidential car. In 2024, he gifted Aurus limos to North Korea's Kim Jong‑un and Bahrain's King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa.
