Lelo’s Datunasvili: EU is stronger than it has ever been; every Georgian must understand this unequivocally

“I unequivocally welcome this move. The United States has taken a step that aligns with the current circumstances facing the country. I have no intention of criticising this decision. It is what it is. This is the reality,” stated Tazo Datunasvili, a member of the Lelo–Strong Georgia party, when asked about the European Union stepping in to replace the NGO sector funding, discontinued by the United States.

“In general, we must accept international politics and other countries’ decisions as reality and try to extract the maximum benefit from these decisions based on our own state interests,” Datunasvili noted.

According to Datunasvili, the European Union is stronger today than it has ever been.

“The fact that the European Union intends to invest several billion in funding civil society, whether in the European Union or other countries, is only to be welcomed. This once again confirms the opposite of what Shalva Papuashvili and other ‘banderologues’ claim, that the European Union is a strong, significant player on the world stage.

The European Union, given the direction of its current policies on defining and strengthening its own security framework, is set to become a far more influential player over the next five to ten years. For a candidate country like Georgia, it is therefore essential that we join this security umbrella, the European Union’s collective protection, as swiftly as possible. The EU is as strong today as it has ever been. Every Georgian citizen must recognise this unequivocally.

I will remind Zaza Shatirishvili once more, and those who haven’t emerged from their hangover, that it is the world’s most important economy, and the European Union will very soon become a new security umbrella, in addition to the fact that EU member states are among the most developed in the world, including from a military perspective. Therefore, Georgia has no greater realistic prospect as a security guarantor than the European Union and the United States.

In that hellish narrative that Zaza Shatirishvili and Shalva Papuashvili tell you, Georgia’s security guarantor supposedly should be Bidzina Ivanishvili, and I don’t know, whoever believes that, may God see you through with that truth,” declared Tazo Datunasvili.

For reference, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced that President Trump has declared the United States’ withdrawal from 66 international organisations, which he considers to be bloated, ineffective, and detrimental.

“What we call the ‘international system’ is now overloaded with hundreds of opaque international organisations, many of which have excessive mandates, duplicated actions, ineffective results, and poor financial and ethical governance,” notes Marco Rubio.

Meanwhile, MEP Kinga Gál wrote on social media that “the European Commission is planning to allocate EUR 8.6 billion for funding civil society organisations under the AgoraEU programme, to fill the gap created by the suspension of USAID funding”.