“As we examine Georgia’s journey towards European integration, it’s clear that despite its status as a leading nation by all criteria, it faces various forms of political blackmail at different stages of the EU process aimed at achieving specific objectives,” Irakli Kadagishvili, Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on Self-Governance, stated.

According to him, one of the goals was to open a “front” in Georgia, including attempts to organize a colour revolution, which failed, but they still cling to this cause.

“Unfortunately, this has not been removed from the agenda. Therefore, visa liberalization might be used as a form of blackmail against Georgia without any concrete arguments. I would not rule out that they might activate this mechanism before the local self-governance elections. They saw that sending foreign ministers before elections was counterproductive, so they might resort to this method as well.

This is one of the last weapons they hold, and they have determined that if they cannot cause a revolution in the country even with the use of this last weapon, then they completely lose their leverage of influence. It will become clear to the people that what we thought was a noble, honest, open process is, in reality, being used as a mechanism of political blackmail.

This threat stands not only for Georgia but for them as well. Therefore, before they make any decision, they should carefully weigh whether they will ultimately sacrifice the engaging interests of the European Union to achieve short-term, dishonest political goals,” Kadagishvili declared.