MP Levan Machavariani: Georgians lack faith in EU Parliament for criticising ‘leading’ Georgia based on Rasa Juknevičienė’s reports

According to MP Levan Machavariani, a member of the parliamentary majority, critical statements directed at Georgia carry “zero weight” for Georgian Dream when they are based on reports by MEP Rasa Juknevičienė.

Machavariani made these remarks in response to the European Parliament’s social media post concerning Georgia and Turkey, which stated: “The European Parliament has sent a clear message regarding progress on EU accession for Georgia and Turkey: advancement on the EU path cannot happen without democratic reforms.”

Machavariani argued that Georgia has fulfilled more than 80% of its obligations under the Association Agreement and ranks at the top of international indices. Yet the European Union chooses to ignore these achievements.

“There is absolutely nothing new here; we have grown accustomed to this unfair treatment. For the vast majority of our citizens, this has lost all credibility. Everyone finds it laughable when we are leading in every single index, yet they refuse to acknowledge it. We have implemented over 80% of our commitments under the Association Agreement, but that is disregarded while they remain solely focused on criticising Georgia.
Naturally, no one believes a word of it.

If they want to be more convincing, I would advise them to address the issues in Ukraine and Moldova, for instance. In one of the recent enlargement reports, which consisted of six chapters per country, Ukraine and Moldova were somehow missing two chapters, those on human rights and corruption. The picture here is clear. No one mentions that not a single opposition party is physically left in Ukraine and Moldova, how corruption is rampant in both nations, and how opposition television channels have been shut down, leaving virtually only state-aligned broadcaster propaganda.

When they remain silent on all of this while simultaneously criticising Georgia, which leads the way by every metric, as confirmed even by the studies of the most authoritative Western organisations, it is no wonder our citizens have lost faith in the European Parliament. It is entirely laughable. This is especially true when such statements rely on reports by Ms Rasa Juknevičienė. Everyone in Georgia knows that Ms Rasa is a close friend of Mikheil Saakashvili and a woman of Soviet mentality, who once referred to our 1.2 million voters as an ‘infection’. She is an ill-mannered, insolent woman, and any statement based on her reports holds absolutely no value for our country,” Levan Machavariani stated.

As a reminder, the European Parliament adopted the resolution drafted by Rasa Juknevičienė on June 17.