The first Vice-Speaker of the Parliament, Gia Volski, commented to journalists on the conclusions of the report issued by the EU Council presidency regarding enlargement. He said that the final and substantive part of the report and resolution contradicts reality. In his view, the goal remains the same: to somehow change the government in Georgia, and the promotion of a revolution continues to this day, including through this newly published document.

According to Volski, if someone was acted against by the law and punished, this actually happened according to a scenario developed by the very people who are now criticizing them.

“The final and substantive part of the report and resolution contradicts reality. If someone was punished under the law, it happened according to a scenario prepared by the very people who now express reproach toward us. They prepared it, funded it, politically supported the development of extremist processes, came to Tbilisi, participated in organized actions of the radical opposition, and openly called for the ‘Ukrainization’ of Georgia. Some officials from EU member countries even openly spoke about this on the Maidan.

In our view, the goal remains the same — to somehow change the government in Georgia. The encouragement of revolution continues to this day, including through this document, which has just been published. Georgia has fully met all requirements related to visa liberalization, and these fall within the framework that defines border control, movement of persons from third countries, the strictness of visa control in Georgia, etc. All these requirements have been thoroughly fulfilled.”

When asked whether this document creates an expectation that the country’s visa liberalization process might be reconsidered, Volski said there is no such expectation.

“Despite this report, there is no expectation that [visa liberalization] will be reconsidered, or that the country and its population will be punished. Some statements hint that the population ‘deserves’ punishment for supporting ‘Georgian Dream’ in elections. One of the mechanisms, leverage, and form of blackmail is considered to be the suspension of visa liberalization. There are attitudes and a realistic view — the population in Georgia is not intellectually incapable of understanding what is happening in the world and what the people threatening us want. We are ready to continue the European integration process at any time — even today we are ready to open the negotiation process. By 2028, however, we will be at a much higher level, and they even raise certain claims regarding this,” Volski said.

For context, the conclusions of the reports issued by the EU Council presidency on enlargement note that Georgia’s EU accession process has effectively reached a deadlock until the government demonstrates firm commitment to course correction and returns to the path of EU integration.

The document highlights a serious overall regression in the fields of democracy, human rights, and the rule of law.

At the same time, the Council expresses regret over Georgia’s failure to implement the recommendations of the seventh report on the mechanism for suspending visa-free travel and calls on the Georgian authorities to fulfill these recommendations and immediately meet the criteria for visa liberalization.