We can and should apply diplomatic pressure on the Georgian government, Polish MEP Michał Kobosko, a member of the Renew Europe Group, sais in an exclusive interview with InterpressNews.

According to him, there is not much space for the Georgian government trying to maneuver somewhere in between us because this is very black and very white to choose between.

“Putin has this crazy dream of restoring the former Soviet Union. We see for three years now what he's been doing in Ukraine with this brutal aggression and invasion on the free and independent and sovereign state of Ukraine. And we cannot let him grab Georgia.

It's a very basic idea and it's not us telling the Georgian people what to do. We see the reaction, the protests of the Georgian society. So, we believe there is not much space for the Georgian government trying to maneuver somewhere in between us because this is very black and very white to choose between.

And we hope that your government eventually would either choose the European way, the democratic way or would resign seeing the number, the size and scale of the citizens' protests”, he said.

According to the MEP, the European leaders should clearly link the support, the institutional support of the European Union towards Georgia, link this to the way that Georgian citizens are treated by the government.

“Meaning, what's the size, what's the scale of the judicial independence in the country, of how the human rights are implemented. Also, the press freedom. Press freedom is absolutely fundamental. We see some moves of the Georgian Dreams towards limiting, reducing also the press freedom. I believe there are ways that EU, which is a peace project, this is a very peaceful project.

We are not a military alliance. We are the alliance of the willing nations, willing member states. So, we are and we could and we should use the diplomatic pressure put on the Georgian governments to make sure that your society, your nation is being treated in such a democratic way, according to the democratic standards. We do not have our powers than to use diplomatic pressure, diplomatic input to try to persuade the government which way is the best for your country”, the MEP said.

He also spoke about the existing assessments regarding the comparison of Georgia and Belarus, noting that Georgia is not in the position of Belarus yet.

“I would say thanks God and thanks to the people of Georgia, you are not in the position of Belarus yet. I mean, Belarus is not lost from the European community of nations and societies, but in Belarus today you can find a lot of elements which do not exist in Georgia and hopefully they will not exist in Georgia. In Belarus you have a total lack of the freedom, of the media freedom.

You do not have a real opposition acting from inside the country. There is a strong Belarusian opposition, but they have to act and manage their activities from outside of the country. They were pushed out of the country.

You have more than 1200 political prisoners in Belarus and so on and so on. Unfortunately, you could see many signs, many evidences that Georgia is on the Belarusian path, but you still have a strong civil society in the country. You still have strong independent media in the country.

You have a strong society which can and is resisting. As we see from this more than 100 days of the recent protests. So the strong society is there, a strong opposition is there, the democratic standards are still present in the country.

I wouldn't go definitely that far to say that Georgia is like Belarus. Thanks God it is not and hopefully it will not become Belarus, because you see that clearly Belarus is on the same way as Putin's Russia and nobody should let Georgia become another Belarus.

The mental changes, the kind of thinking that you came out of the, let's say the Soviet thinking, also of the previous generations, when Georgia still belonged to the Soviet Union or Soviet Empire. You are independent and sovereign country and specifically the younger generation of Georgians. You are very pro-European and pro-democratic and pro-European thinking in what you represent. You are the big hope of the society”, the MEP said.

He said that Europe supports Georgia's aspirations.

"We are standing with a free and democratic Georgia. We are supporting your dreams, your aspirations, your beliefs, and you can count on us. We'll be here as members of the European Parliament. We'll be supporting you. You know where to find us if you need anything from our side. On our side, as I said, we will keep expressing our support. We will have a number of other resolutions. We'll be happy to support you," said the MEP.