MEP Rasa Juknevičienė: Support of EU member countries, institutions toward Georgians was weaker than we expected

“Georgia is the Kremlin’s biggest victory so far as a country taken over from within,” said Rasa Juknevičienė, a member of the European Parliament, during a press conference on the topic “Freedom Behind Bars: Standing with Mzia Amaglobeli and Georgia’s Pro-Democracy Movement.”

According to the MEP, Georgians are still fighting for their European state and the EP adopted several resolutions and reports on the current situation in Georgia and further steps to be taken as a roadmap, though the “support of EU member countries and institutions was weak.”

“I want to be very fair and open. The assistance of the European Union’s member states and institutions, sometimes towards the struggling Georgians, has been weaker than we expected. Sanctions have never been imposed against those responsible except for a few states. Bidzina Ivanishvili is still honored with the highest award in France, and he is a citizen of France, the guy who is behind all these tragedies happening now in Georgia. The Sputnik-style media still operates in our EU institutions,” she said.

Remarking on visa-free travel, Rasa Juknevičienė said: “No one in the European Parliament wants to punish the Georgian people. But a visa-free regime has a very special framework and criteria every country must fulfil.”

“Evaluations and assessments are going on for every country, and we agree among ourselves that those who are responsible for the situation in Georgia, those who are proxies of the regime and represent the regime itself, it is impossible that they enjoyed a visa-free regime as they are enjoying now,” she said.