“The European Union spent thousands of euros on a campaign to discredit the accreditation rules in force in the Georgian Parliament, and today it turned out that the European Parliament has much stricter rules of conduct and sanctions for the media than the Georgian Parliament,” the Georgian Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili wrote on social media.

“The decision taken by the European Parliament to suspend accreditation for Georgian media is also interesting in that it fully exposes the hypocrisy of today’s Brussels. The European Union spent thousands of euros on a campaign to discredit the accreditation rules in force in the Georgian Parliament, and today it turned out that the European Parliament has much stricter rules of conduct and sanctions for the media than the Georgian Parliament.

First, the Georgian Parliament does not restrict the start of a spontaneous interview, but obliges the journalist to stop the interview if the respondent requests it. What is happening in the European Parliament? It turned out that the journalist must first obtain the respondent’s consent and only then turn on the camera. Interesting. We will think about the feasibility of adopting this rule.

Second, when a journalist violates the rules of conduct in the Georgian Parliament, the sanction is a one-month suspension of accreditation for the first violation and six months for a repeated violation. What is happening in the European Parliament? It turned out that the sanction is the suspension of accreditation for one year. Interesting. We will think about whether to adopt this rule or not.

Third, when a journalist violates the rules of conduct in the Georgian Parliament, the accreditation is suspended only for that journalist; the sanction does not apply to the media outlet he or she represents. What is happening in the European Parliament? It turned out that accreditation is suspended not only for the journalist, but also for the entire media outlet. None of its journalists will be able to work in the European Parliament building for one year. Interesting. We will think about this rule,” the Speaker wrote.