The European Parliament adopted the Resolution on Georgia on 14 December. First of all, I would like to thank all the members of the European Parliament who are sincere supporters of Georgia, want Georgia to become a valuable member of the European Union, and sincerely express their support for Georgia within the possibilities they have, the Chair of the EU Integration Committee, Maka Botchorishvili, wrote on Facebook.
In her post, Botchorishvili emphasized that Georgia values all recommendations and opinions coming from the EU institutions that promote Georgia’s democratic advancement and a better future for Georgian citizens.
“At the same time, it is difficult to take seriously those messages of the European Parliament that are devoid of any basis and serve to create and strengthen false perceptions about Georgia, based on deliberate damaging campaigns. The process that we have been observing in the European Parliament with regard to Georgia in recent months raises many legitimate questions and provides the opportunity to draw unfavourable conclusions. It is heartbreaking to observe how this important institution is being “captured” by narrow groups with the intention of realizing their own political interests and goals.
Unfortunately, there is a group in the European Parliament today that acts under the guise of supporting Georgia and spares no effort to undermine Georgia’s European future, damage the image of the Georgian state by actively participating in disinformation campaigns, and ignore the achievements of the Georgian authorities that should serve as the foundation for our European future in line with the will of the Georgian people. The motivation behind their efforts is a topic for a separate discussion, which raises many questions and damages the image of the European institutions themselves.
The resolution on Georgia that was adopted in June was the result of precisely their actions. It was supposedly adopted with the pretext of protecting media freedom and, with its absurd accusations, it became the cause for the decision of the European Commission and the European Council with which Georgia’s perspective of joining the European Union was granted without candidate status, unlike Ukraine and Moldova,” she wrote.
According to MP Bochorishvili, the ruling Georgian Dream team spares no efforts to protect Georgia’s interests in the European Union and to ensure that as many people as possible are informed about the country’s challenges.
“You will not find a sensible politician in Europe today who does not think that such an approach to Georgia was a mistake. For the second time now, the rapporteur of the European Parliament on Georgia was obliged not to support the resolution that was prepared on the basis of his own report, which once again missed its objective and became a tool against Georgia’s interests.
The process that not only failed to eliminate the inaccuracies in the text of the report but also deliberately reinforced the false narratives created on their basis deserves extensive analysis. I will not mention the effort expended by our team and myself to ensure that Georgia’s interests are protected to the greatest possible extent on the EU stage and that as many people as possible are correctly informed about the challenges facing the country as well as about the achievements that prove the European aspirations of the Georgian people.
Just one example demonstrates that ignoring the truth is one of the tools used by this group to achieve their goals. Facts and knowledge of the truth constitute a burden for them. The actions of those members of the European Parliament who disregard even the European Commissioners’ answers to their own questions unless they serve their harmful political goals cannot be evaluated otherwise.
It also emerged that for some, Georgia’s greatest pain, the Russian occupation, is like a wolf donning sheep’s clothing and using the issue in a manner that follows the trend. The interests behind all of this were revealed in the debate initiated before the adoption of the report, which is the best example of how all resources are being used for the success of Operation “Free Misha” while manipulating European humaneness and wrapping this operation as a so-called “humanitarian mission,” Committee chair added.
She went on: “Europe and European values are much deeper than our brief activity on the political stage, and dignity is the jewel that adorns every person and institution the most. Once again, thanks to those who, despite everything, tried not to neglect Georgia’s efforts on the path of European integration and to reflect them in the resolution; thanks to those for whom Georgia is more than one man’s reckless venture and also to those for whom European values are not based on falseness and who do not look at the European Union through the prism of the Soviet Union.”
