“They view Georgia as something that should be served on a platter to EU or Brussels bureaucrats. This is how those Georgian citizens without a sense of homeland view it — their goal is for us to somehow end up on the menu, and we should watch who will ‘devour’ us,” Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili said in response to diplomat Gia Japaridze’s statement that, due to the actions of the Georgian Dream, Georgia is no longer on the EU’s “menu.”

According to Papuashvili, Brussels also views it this way, treating candidate countries as items on a menu on which decisions are made by those sitting at the table.

“They view Georgia as something that should be served on a platter to EU or Brussels bureaucrats. This is not merely a slip of the tongue; it is a statement reflecting the idea that ‘if you are not sitting at the table, you are on the menu,’ meaning that if you are not an equal and are not among those making decisions, others will make decisions about you.

“Through this remark, he also repeated what we have been hearing recently from some Brussels commissioners, including Commissioner Marta Kos — they view candidate countries as second-class people and tell them not to engage with MAGA, or Trump’s ideological base, while they themselves engage with it. In other words, they believe they are our guardians and that we are not mature enough to decide for ourselves whom we should have relations with.

“There is also the stated idea that even if new members are admitted, they should be second-class members with fewer rights, without the right of veto, and so on — in other words, they will be ‘on the menu.’

“Unfortunately, this is how Brussels views it today: candidate countries are on the menu, and decisions about them are made by those sitting at the table. This is how those Georgian citizens without a sense of homeland view it — their goal is for us to somehow end up on the menu, and we should watch who will ‘devour’ us,” Papuashvili said.

For reference, diplomat Gia Japaridze said on PalitraNews’ program “Free Studio” that “for a very long time, due to the deliberate actions of the Georgian Dream, we have no longer been on the EU’s ‘menu.’ We should not even have expected Georgia to be mentioned in the European Commission President’s report. This is not the Georgian Dream’s backyard; this is the European Union, where words carry weight.”

Japaridze said that it is the Georgian government’s decision that the country is no longer moving along the path of European integration.