Shalva Papuashvili: Brussels is telling us to go along with a false ideology and say that a man can become a woman and a woman can become a man; That’s the same as Brussels demanding that we acknowledge the Earth is flat

“Brussels is once again placing us before a false dilemma, as if we must have visa-free travel but, in return, declare that the Earth is flat. This has no connection to European values,” said Shalva Papuashvili, Speaker of the Parliament, in a statement to journalists, responding to the letter sent by the European Commission to Maka Bochorishvili, which demands that the Georgian government implement eight recommendations.

According to him, “Brussels is asking the government to acknowledge that the Earth is flat, otherwise they will burn us at the stake of their false ideology.”

“Citizens must understand the demands put forward by Brussels. One issue concerns the law on ‘Family Values and Protection of Minors’ Rights.’ The main point of this law is that a woman cannot become a man, and a man cannot become a woman. In other words, Brussels is telling us to follow a false ideology and say that a man can become a woman. This is essentially what is being demanded regarding this law. It’s the same as if Brussels demanded that we acknowledge the Earth is flat. It’s the same kind of false ideology to say that a man can become a woman as it is to demand that we say the Earth is not round but flat.

We remember a time in Europe when people claimed the Earth was flat, and those who said it wasn’t were burned at the stake. This is exactly what Brussels’s current behavior reminds me of. They demand that we say the Earth is not round but flat, or that a man can become a woman. If we don’t say this, they threaten to burn us at their false ideological stake. This must be evaluated to understand what we are dealing with.

The second issue in the demands concerns transparency. We know that EU funds have been used in Georgia to finance radicalism, extremism, political parties, and partisan media, and so on. This is all well-documented. Apparently, Brussels doesn’t want us to know where their money is going. We are part of Europe, too. Brussels is trying to impose false ideologies on other societies.

Brussels’ bureaucracy has deviated from European values. We have been calling on them for so long to return to respecting human rights, to return to respecting the idea of a state based on the rule of law. Today, Brussels has strayed from the path on which the European Union was founded. The call is for them to return to European values and acknowledge that the Earth is round, not flat. Brussels is once again placing us before a false dilemma, which is that we must have visa-free travel but, in return, say that the Earth is flat. This is the false dilemma Brussels is presenting. It has no connection to European values.

Additionally, in this letter, it is effectively acknowledged that the suspension of visas for diplomatic and service passports was a violation of international law and the 2010 agreement. We have a fact: the European Union, in the form of Brussels, is a violator of international law,” Papuashvili stated.

For reference, Beate Gminder, Director-General of the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Migration and Home Affairs, sent a letter to Georgia’s Foreign Minister, Maka Bochorishvili, requesting that the Commission be provided with information on the implementation of the recommendations or the adoption of appropriate measures to comply with the Commission’s recommendations. The Commission has issued several recommendations, including a demand for the Georgian government to repeal the law “On Transparency of Foreign Influence” and the legislative package “On Family Values and Protection of Minors,” as well as to amend the National Human Rights Strategy and Action Plan to ensure full protection of the rights of LGBTQ individuals.