Shalva Papuashvili: At the meeting with foreign ministers, we all agreed that we did the right thing when we did not listen to our European colleagues and did not impose sanctions on Russia, did not release Saakashvili

At the meeting, we all agreed that we did the right thing when we did not listen to our European colleagues and did not impose sanctions on Russia, did not release Saakashvili. We were found to be right and they were found to be false - we said, what is the guarantee that you will not be wrong in this case too, as in the previous cases? - Chairman of the Parliament of Georgia, Shalva Papuashvili, said after the meeting with the foreign ministers of Latvia, Estonia, Iceland and Lithuania.

According to him, the European colleagues had some concerns regarding the law "On transparency of foreign influence" and the Georgian side explained to them what the basis of the said law is.

"The purpose of their arrival in Georgia concerns the "transparency" law. They had some concerns about the law. We talked about the basis of the law. Among them, one of the reasons is that the funds of the European Union and the funds of their own taxpayers are partly spent in Georgia in a non-transparent manner, partly spent in Georgia not for the purposes for which they should be spent. By the way, we have received approval from various representatives of the European Union and they agree with our opinion that there is indeed a problem of transparency, so we told this to our colleagues. Among them, we told them that it is in their hands to eliminate these challenges and problems, since the money of their citizens is partially spent in Georgia in a non-transparent manner.

Today, speaking at the meeting, we all agreed that we did the right thing by not listening to our European colleagues when we didn't impose sanctions [on Russia], against their advice, we were right not to listen to our European colleagues when we did not release Saakashvili - we were proved right and they wrong. We sked them what is the guarantee that they will not be wrong in this case too, as in the previous cases? It is our call, and this was the mood of our meeting today, that the main thing is that the relationship be based on mutual respect and that they understand the concerns we have," Papuashvili said.