I reiterated once again what red lines the Georgian people have in their foreign relations, - Speaker of the Parliament Shalva Papuashvili told journalists, assessing his meeting with representatives of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe yesterday.

Papuashvili answered the question - "Was there any discussion of new parliamentary elections at the meeting?", to which he noted that "Of course, no".

“Once again, I reiterated the red lines that the Georgian people have in their foreign relations. The Georgian people, who gained their independence through struggle; the Georgian people, who gained their right to choose their own government through blood, will not cede this right to anyone.

I spoke for a long time. I am trying to convey to everyone what the Georgian people have to say. Our conversation, of course, concerned legislation. Among them, the legislation that is often discussed - the amendments to various laws regarding the transparency of foreign funding. All these laws have been appealed both to the Constitutional Court and in the Strasbourg Court of Human Rights. No matter who it comes from, what this law is like, whether it complies with the Constitution or not, whether it complies with the European Convention or not, there are two bodies that have the right to answer this. Regarding compliance with the Constitution, this is the Constitutional Court of Georgia; regarding the Convention - the European Court of Human Rights. Everyone should be kind and wait for these two laws.

The delegation asked that there are certain conclusions from the Venice Commission. We are members of the Council of Europe, just as the delegation representatives are. The Venice Commission is our body as much as it is theirs. All documents of the Venice Commission are titled - “Opinion”. This is an opinion. We do not share these opinions that we have heard. Someone may share them. This is not a law. This is not a legal interpretation that the Strasbourg Court will make. Everyone should be kind and wait for this,” Papuashvili said.

As Papuashvili explained, “the necessity of dialogue with the government is in the interest of those countries and organizations that want to have relations with the Georgian people.”

“We are not trying to convince anyone, if someone has questions, we are happy to answer them. The main thing for us is to convince the Georgian people of the correctness of our policy.

As for the need for dialogue, this is, first of all, in the interests of those countries and organizations that want to have relations with the Georgian people. This is the main red line that we have.

It does not matter from which geographical direction the disrespect for Georgia’s sovereignty comes, from the north or from the west. How does it matter from which direction the wind blows, if this wind is not right? We saw disrespect for sovereignty in the resolutions of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. All this, if I am not mistaken, started with the January resolution, when they called for new elections. Of course, this led to the following complications, including in relations," said Shalva Papuashvili.