“I don’t know whether she’s inviting me to an unlawful demonstration; that’s her decision to make, but I have no intention of participating in unlawful protests in any country, Finland included,” Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze responded to a question posed on Imedi TV regarding Finland’s Foreign Minister’s statement.

According to Irakli Kobakhidze, the public was able to see everything clearly, given that Finland’s Foreign Minister, who was visiting Georgia under OSCE auspices, had breached established protocols.

“Frankly, her conduct was undignified, and she breached standards as well. She’d come in her capacity as an OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, not as Finland’s Foreign Minister. First of all, how can Finland’s Foreign Minister wade so crudely into a political process? And then, all the more so when you’ve arrived under OSCE auspices. And then there’s the dishonesty of what she spoke about. She had to lie; when you’re tasked with going to such a demonstration, where there are 50 people alongside you, naturally, you have to claim that crowds are gathering. The Finnish Foreign Minister told lies of this magnitude. Finnish flags were flying about, and she was spouting miracles. How dare you tell such lies? I reckon even the so-called journalists at Formula and TV Pirveli don’t say anything like that, yet Finland’s Foreign Minister did, which is rather instructive, actually.

Sometimes the public tends to forget; after all, it’s Finland, it’s Europe, it’s the European Union, and perhaps they’re not as problematic as they might appear at first glance, but when Finland’s Foreign Minister does something like this, tells two lies or perhaps threw in a third as well, I can’t remember, manages to squeeze several lies into a one-minute appearance, naturally the public forms the correct opinion about all of this.

That’s precisely why her crude, improper conduct, which violated all standards, far from leaving any negative impression on Georgian society, achieved quite the opposite. Society became even more mobilised against the very crudeness and injustice we’re witnessing from the European bureaucracy. She followed this up the next day with yet another lie regarding the cancellation of the meeting.

If we look at everything more broadly, it is natural that her going there directly led to the decision to cancel the meeting, but she received the response that was the only uncompromising reply a dignified government could give. We cannot ignore such behaviour if the government possesses even basic self-respect.

Therefore, she received the response she deserved. This isn’t merely Finland’s problem; it’s the problem of the entire European bureaucracy. They do whatever they’re instructed to do. They’re no different from Georgian foreign agents; they do whatever they’re told, without asking any questions whatsoever. If this weren’t an assignment, how could you possibly embarrass yourself like that, with 50 people, how could Finland’s Foreign Minister participate in an unlawful demonstration in another country, for which she was issued a 5,000-lari fine? How do you demean yourself in this way unless you’re a foreign agent taking instructions? It’s all utterly inconceivable,” Irakli Kobakhidze declared.