People from the post-Soviet space are lecturing us in the name of Europe: Rasa Juknevičienė, Gorbachev’s old battle-companion, and Sergei Lagodinsky, born and raised in Astrakhan, whom they now present as a “German MP.” What is this, if not the classic moment when you can take the person out of the Soviet Union, but you can’t take the Soviet Union out of the person?

This is how Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili answered a journalist’s question about the Euronest Parliamentary Assembly resolution that claims “recent events in Georgia have demonstrated a serious democratic backsliding.”

Papuashvili repeated today that, until there is genuine readiness for dialogue, the Georgian parliamentary delegation will boycott all future Euronest sessions in this hostile environment.

“These people look at Georgia with exactly the same Soviet gaze. They think the Georgian people are here to be tamed. We will not take lessons in Europeanness from Gorbachev’s comrade Rasa Juknevičienė or from Sergei Lagodinsky, born and bred in Astrakhan,” Papuashvili declared.

What the Euronest resolution says The Assembly adopted a text stating that “recent developments in Georgia have shown a serious democratic backsliding.” It lists as evidence:

• the “rigged” parliamentary elections of 26 October 2024
• the government’s 28 November 2024 announcement postponing EU accession talks until 2028
• a series of subsequent anti-democratic laws aimed at silencing every possible dissenter — especially civil society, academia, independent media, minorities (in particular the LGBT+ community), and at eliminating any viable democratic political opposition.

The Georgian delegation did not attend the 12th plenary session of Euronest in Yerevan.