Speaker: Brussels shows disrespect to Georgian people, without appropriate invitation, we will not participate in meetings

“Without an appropriate invitation, we will not participate in such meetings,” Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili said in response to a question from a Georgian Public Broadcaster journalist.

The journalist asked Papuashvili to comment on a statement by a European Commission spokesperson, who said that Georgia had not been invited to the Enlargement Forum, while the Georgian authorities had been invited to the ministerial meeting on connectivity issues, but at a lower level of representation.

According to Papuashvili, this amounts to a decision to invite Georgia at a lower level and once again demonstrates the immaturity of the EU bureaucracy.

“It is simply ridiculous when they talk about the Middle Corridor. Are they going to fly over Georgia, bypass it, or what exactly are they going to do? I cannot imagine it. What Brussels is doing amounts to disrespect for the Georgian people, disrespect for the sovereignty of the Georgian people and disrespect for our country’s independence.

Moscow treated us in exactly this way. Now Brussels is repeating the actions of Soviet Moscow. Such a dismissive attitude ultimately shows that they identify themselves with Soviet Moscow. So they should no longer take offence at this comparison. By looking down on the Georgian people and treating them with such arrogance, they are identifying themselves with Soviet Moscow,” Papuashvili said.