MP Makhashvili: You cannot demand respect for OSCE principles while ignoring their own conclusions

“It is impossible to demand respect for OSCE principles on one hand while simultaneously disregarding OSCE conclusions. The assessments clearly state that elections took place in Georgia, and there is no question about their occurrence. Despite some individual shortcomings, the will of the people was expressed freely,” declared Levan Makhashvili, Chairman of Parliament’s European Integration Committee and member of Georgia’s permanent delegation to the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly.

According to him, the Georgian delegation worked productively with the Parliamentary Assembly to ensure that important provisions for Georgia were included in the declaration and accompanying resolutions.

“During these days, both at the Parliamentary Assembly and beforehand in working sessions, we collaborated very productively and constructively with the Assembly to ensure that important provisions for Georgia were included in the declaration and various accompanying resolutions – whether it was respect for Georgia’s territorial integrity, occupied regions and the very grave human rights situation there, Russian occupation.

The public observed the highly proactive efforts of the leader of the Georgian delegation to advocate for several key issues. These included urging Syria’s government to withdraw recognition of our occupied territories, as well as addressing matters related to trade relations, corridor issues, youth engagement, energy cooperation, regional peace, and other important topics. These issues were included in both the declaration and its accompanying resolutions as a result of our great efforts. We were engaged in diplomatic activity to ensure maximum reflection of provisions that were interesting and necessary for Georgia.

We witnessed the very active anti-Georgian activities of Joe Wilson and some of his supporters, how they slipped in several short but very damaging articles regarding Georgia. During the committee’s discussion of this resolution and the declaration, we repeatedly raised the issue of removing these provisions, following word by word each disinformation narrative that was spread in this resolution and in this specific part of the declaration,” Levan Makhashvili stated.

According to him, the Georgian delegation opposed such formulations in the committee and voted against this part of the declaration.

“However, at the plenary session, we saw that this declaration was still adopted and this specific provision was included. Georgia, our delegation could not support this resolution because of the red line related to holding new elections.

We, the OSCE Secretary General and the head of the Swiss delegation, repeatedly emphasised that such provisions discredit both the OSCE and its observation mission, undermine its foundational principles, and diminish its overall credibility. It is impossible to demand respect for OSCE principles on one hand while simultaneously disregarding OSCE conclusions. The assessments clearly state that elections took place in Georgia, and there is no question about their occurrence. Despite some individual shortcomings, the will of the people was expressed freely.

The public saw the appeal of all three delegation members that we agreed on individual provisions, but as a whole, because of this red line, we could not support the final document,” Levan Makhashvili declared.

According to Makhashvili, the part of the media that claimed the Georgian side supported the resolution could have verified the information with the Georgian delegation or the party.

“They would have observed our stance and understood what we truly did. During these days, the public saw that we opposed specific provisions in the resolution; we could not allow certain parts to be adopted from our side, let alone support them. We engaged in detailed debates over every formulation. It seems to us that they aimed to overshadow the positive aspects of this declaration, notably the unprecedented appeal to Syria’s government, which appeared for the first time in documents issued by international organisations.

For the first time, we succeeded in having this provision included in the document, even though Joe Wilson, who initiated this issue, had no comments regarding Georgia. Overall, their goal was to discredit our efforts. Unfortunately, this is not a new phenomenon. It is regrettable that the media—funded by the European Union taxpayers—has become the source of such disinformation and fake news.

We are ready, should you require any information, to engage and provide honest and thorough details—let the rest be their responsibility. We see no other options available to us. We worked very productively with the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly to ensure that advantageous provisions for Georgia were included.

Despite unfair treatment, we will continue in the future to provide this information to everyone, including the OSCE and all partners who have a desire to receive real information, and most importantly, to ensure that beneficial provisions for Georgia are reflected in all international documents,” Levan Makhashvili stated.