“Marta Kos’s statement said that Georgia’s government should listen to the Georgian people. She has no idea what the Georgian people want; she has no understanding,” Georgian Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili has declared.

According to Papuashvili, this is disrespectful to the Georgian people and the most dangerous path that European bureaucracy is taking.

“Let us not forget that this is the same Marta Kos whose party, ALDE, collaborates with a terrorist. Until ALDE and Marta Kos distance themselves from the terrorist, all their words are unserious. To this day, ALDE remains a party that collaborates with a terrorist and whose ally is a terrorist.

So when we’re dealing with a European Commissioner who is a member of a party that collaborates with terrorists, we cannot take this matter seriously. I want to highlight one issue, one red line, which the Georgian people must show Brussels once again. This is the attempt at a patronising attitude they have towards Georgia.

Marta Kos’s statement also said that Georgia’s government should listen to the Georgian people. As far as I know, Kos has not been officially present in Georgia; I don’t know if she visited privately. The only occasion when Marta Kos was in Georgia was when she flew over us to go to Armenia and Baku. Marta Kos has no idea what the Georgian people want; she has no understanding. When a Brussels bureaucrat gives herself the right, with such moral superiority and a patronising attitude, to speak to the government of the Georgian people in this way, this is disrespectful to the Georgian people, treating us as lesser human beings, as if Georgians cannot govern ourselves, elect our own government, and have representatives of our interests in government. This is the most dangerous path that European bureaucracy is taking.

I have spoken about this several times; however, I see that it has not been enough, and they continue regardless. Therefore, from today onwards, I shall give this matter my particular attention.

Every foreigner who speaks on behalf of the Georgian people is not a friend of the Georgian people; they are someone who thinks the Georgian people are somehow inferior to them. Georgia’s population consistently supported Georgian Dream in 2012, 2020, and 2024, with the same number of supporters: one million one hundred thousand people. Just two months ago, this very same number backed Georgia’s government in the local self-government elections.

So, what is Marta Kos implying? Is she implying that these people are not truly human—some sort of subhuman? And that representatives of a higher caste are speaking to those of a lower caste?

Every foreigner must stop speaking in place of the Georgian people and on behalf of the Georgian people. Not a single Georgian has granted them legitimacy or the right to speak on behalf of the Georgian people, to speak to the Georgian people’s elected government.

Such a Europe once existed—centuries ago, 100, 150, even 200 years ago—when it spoke to other nations with a patronising attitude, as if it knew better what their interests were. Let them not push things so far, let them not go so far as to surpass the Soviet Union. Let them not return to that Europe which spoke on behalf of other peoples, claiming the right to teach others wisdom.

Therefore, however many statements there are, whether from a Commissioner or a representative of some country who dares to speak in place of the Georgian people, on their behalf, this is a red line. From today, we shall indicate to everyone that this is disrespectful to our sovereignty, our independence. Kos’s one phrase, that the government listens to the people, means they’re abolishing us as an independent country, abolishing us as a nation, as a state, as a people that has its own sovereignty, that fought for this. Therefore, we shall not grant anyone this right, and they should stop this attitude,” Shalva Papuashvili declared.

For context: European Commissioner for Enlargement, Marta Kos, expressed hope before the EU Foreign Council that “with the support of your people, the Georgian authorities will come back on the European path. Of course, it is in their hands.”