“The statements of Lithuanian Member of the European Parliament Rasa Juknevičienė have already approached the very edge of fascist rhetoric,” Shalva Papuashvili, Chairman of the Parliament of Georgia, posted on social media.

Papuashvili emphasised the urgent need for common sense and restraint in Brussels to halt this troubling trend, one that dismisses democracy and human dignity.

“The statements of Lithuanian MEP Rasa Juknevičienė have already neared the boundaries of fascist rhetoric. She has claimed that ‘the people are to blame’ and spoken of ‘stopping the infection,’” Papuashvili noted.

“If we examine the radical hate speech encouraged by her, it’s likely that her next step would be to refer to the Georgian people as ‘slaves’ or ‘biomass.’ It is high time for common sense to prevail in Brussels and put an end to this shameful trend that undermines democracy and human dignity. To Rasa Juknevičienė I would say: you cannot despise an entire nation through hatred of Stalin.”

In her speech at the European People’s Party congress in Valencia, Rasa Juknevičienė stated: “The current Georgian regime is an example of a successful internal state capture by the Kremlin. This might also happen to an EU member state if we don’t stop this infection in time.”