“They are asking us to destroy our own country by telling us to align with the EU’s visa policy, which means imposing sanctions on Russia,” stated Shalva Papuashvili, the Speaker of the Parliament of Georgia.

According to Papuashvili, “the Georgian government will not destroy the country just because Brussels wants to turn visas into a political weapon today”.

“This concerns the introduction of a visa regime for diplomatic passports. When that visa regime was implemented, the EU violated an international agreement. The European Union is breaking international law regarding Georgia, which in itself is an absolute disgrace. Yet we see that the sense of shame no longer really exists in Brussels. Once they realised this was a violation of international law, they introduced additional rules specifically tailored for Georgia. In addition to the existing, technically-focused criteria, they introduced political criteria; something that has never before been part of the EU’s history, its visa policies, or its visa-free travel arrangements.

This is how they valued the Georgian people, the four million residents living in Georgia. The EU convened, but ultimately wasted time by creating special rules and tailoring them for Georgia. This is the second violation: tailoring EU rules to a single, specific entity, in this case, Georgia. By applying this political criterion, according to their own whim and fancy, they can demand whatever they want from you.

Now, their imagination knows no bounds; they are telling us to impose sanctions on Russia. In other words, they are telling us: ‘Commit suicide if you want visa-free travel.’ If we kill and destroy ourselves, who on earth is left to travel visa-free to the EU? Perhaps they could explain that to us as well. This is what they are pushing us towards; they are asking us to destroy our own country by telling us to align with the EU’s visa policy, which means imposing sanctions on Russia. They are demanding this outright. We will not destroy our country just because Brussels wants to turn visas into a political weapon today. This is a third violation, using visa policy as a political weapon. Every country has a visa system, so what are we supposed to do now, introduce visas for Polish officials? Is that how everything should escalate?” Papuashvili said.

As Papuashvili noted, the European Union is pursuing an “immature” policy.

“This is an immature policy by the EU. It is precisely this immaturity that has brought Brussels and the EU to where they are today. That is why Marco Rubio won’t even meet with Kaja Kallas. When the EU has such an immature foreign policy, people pay no attention to them; they don’t even deem the EU’s High Representative worthy of a meeting,” Papuashvili claimed.

Furthermore, the Speaker of Parliament stated that the meeting scheduled for June 11 in Brussels is strictly technical.

“A technical team from Georgia is being sent to go over the issues. If they have any political grievances, let them speak to politicians. These matters cannot be discussed at a technical level. We have political answers to political questions. Let them speak openly and tell the Georgian people what they are actually demanding. They are demanding that we impose sanctions on the Russians, and that the EU retains the ability to finance radical political groups in Georgia covertly. In exchange, they are offering us strawberries. As the saying now goes in our region: Sovereignty is not traded for strawberries,” Papuashvili declared.

According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Georgia, the first meeting between the Georgian side and the European Commission regarding the visa regulations will take place in Brussels on June 11.