“This is a double standard toward a country that, it seems, some do not consider as their equal and instead see as an easy target,” – said the Speaker of the Georgian Parliament, Shalva Papuashvili, to journalists in response to the statement made by 17 European countries and the EU’s High Representative.

According to him, Brussels has developed a tendency to address an independent state with aggressive rhetoric and threats.

“If kicking a police officer is considered peaceful behavior, if throwing explosive fireworks at police is peaceful, if burning down the parliament is peaceful, then I have one thing to say to these 17 countries: look at your own countries. If someone kicks your police officer—will you tolerate it and not respond? If someone tries to burn your parliament—won’t you react? If someone throws pyrotechnics at you—will there be no consequences?

Unfortunately, this is not even a case of double standards—this is the complete absence of standards toward a country that, apparently, some do not consider as their equal and instead see as a low fence that’s easy to cross. It seems, from their point of view, our police officers should be hit with rocks and Molotov cocktails—and that's considered acceptable.

This is what ultimately causes disappointment among our population. This is also reflected in polls, which show declining trust in the European Union—because people feel looked down upon, as if we are a second-rate country where anything goes, as long as it's done by EU-funded actors.

It is crucial that these countries stop their unfair attacks on Georgia and cease their aggressive rhetoric against us. Sadly, we are witnessing how Brussels and some capital cities’ circles speak to a sovereign state with threats and hostile language.

It is important for the European Union to wake up and return to the path of European values. The path Brussels’ bureaucracy is currently on is leading toward the Soviet Union. That’s why the EU must stop going down this Soviet path and return to its core values, such as respect for human rights and the rule of law.

Those people, those states and their governments who claim that kicking police officers, throwing rocks or Molotov cocktails at them is ‘peaceful’—they do not understand what respect for human rights and the rule of law actually means. What matters most now is to end the hypocrisy and reverse course from the path toward the Soviet Union," – said Shalva Papuashvili.

Papuashvili also focused attention on the EU’s funding of Georgian NGOs, stating that the money allocated by the EU to these non-governmental organizations is, in reality, financing extremism in Georgia.

“The European Commission was forced to respond regarding who the EU had been funding, after this information was requested via parliamentary committees. Based on their replies, a database was created showing what they had kept hidden—even the EU Delegation in Georgia had refused to make this information public.

We now have preliminary data showing which organizations are receiving funds. Ultimately, they were forced to reveal how the funds were distributed—and what we found out is even worse. We discovered that programs worth 900,000, half a million, even 2 million euros are being channeled to radical, political organizations which, as citizens have seen, are known for attacking the state, using hate speech, spreading disinformation, and showing no respect for human rights.

We now have initial information showing how extremism is being financed in Georgia, by well-known suspects who do not respect democratic institutions, who do not recognize elections, the constitution, or laws.

These are the very NGOs that organize rallies where the demand is the overthrow of the government. Apparently, this is what EU money is being spent on. Now the ball is in the EU’s and its Delegation’s court—they must explain why they funded organizations involved in this.

We also found out that in June 2022, when NGOs took to the stage, they demanded that the government be formed with their participation and their veto power. So what happened was this: the EU unfairly denied us candidate status and then put its own funded NGOs on stage in Brussels to replace the government. The EU Delegation and Brussels must explain this," – stated Shalva Papuashvili.