“Facts of corruption in the European Union confirm suspicions that exist in Georgian society that we are dealing with corruption when grants are being awarded,” the Speaker of Parliament, Shalva Papuashvili, has stated.

According to him, corruption has become commonplace in Brussels.

“Facts of corruption in the European Union confirm suspicions that exist in Georgian society that we are dealing with corruption when grants are being awarded. The case against Mogherini concerns allegations of corruption in the awarding of grants. These suspicions are often, and numerous NGOs in Georgia have spoken openly about this issue. They claim that corruption occurs during the grant allocation process in Georgia, with European institutions and donors implicated in the matter. This has been publicly acknowledged on several occasions. When questioned about whether a competitive process was conducted or the basis on which the grants were awarded, there was either no response or it became apparent that grants had been awarded through favouritism.

This fuels the suspicion that the problem with the Transparency Law was not only preventing the financing of projects harmful to Georgia, but also exposing corruption. It seems that corruption has become a widespread and damaging practice in Brussels. It is a deplorable state of affairs that corruption is so rampant at this level, yet they dare to criticise other countries. This serves as confirmation that corruption likely occurred during the grant allocation. It further underscores that corrupt European bureaucrats are obstructing the implementation of the Transparency Law,” stated Papuashvili.

For context, Belgian police have arrested three individuals in a corruption investigation, including former EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Federica Mogherini, and senior European Commission official, Stefano Sannino. According to a statement by the EU Prosecutor’s Office, the case concerns the financing of the College of Europe in Bruges in 2021-2022. The college’s rector is Federica Mogherini.

At the same time, according to the EU Prosecutor’s Office statement, those arrested were released after charges were brought, as it is not considered that there is a risk of them fleeing.