Speaker: We won’t take lessons on being European from Gorbachev’s ally Juknevičienė or Astrakhan-born Lagodinsky

“In a hostile environment, Georgia’s official parliamentary delegation will not participate in subsequent Euronest sessions until we see a readiness for dialogue; I have already made a statement to this effect,” the Speaker of Georgia’s Parliament, Shalva Papuashvili, told journalists.

According to Papuashvili, post-Soviet individuals are speaking to us in the name of Europe and think that the Georgian people are there to be subjugated by them.

“The fact is, we see that post-Soviet individuals are speaking to us in the name of Europe. Rasa Juknevičienė, Gorbachev’s comrade, and Sergey Lagodinsky, born and raised in Astrakhan, who is now presented to us as a German MP, are speaking to us in the name of Europe.

What is this now, if not that moment when you can take a person out of the Soviet Union, but you cannot take the Soviet Union out of the person? The examples of this are precisely those individuals who view Georgia in the same Soviet style and think that the Georgian people are there to be subjugated by them. Therefore, we will not take lessons on being European from Gorbachev’s comrade Rasa Juknevičienė or from Sergey Lagodinsky, born and raised in Astrakhan,” Shalva Papuashvili stated.

On November 1, Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili announced that “due to hostile approaches from forces in the European Parliament, Georgia’s standing parliamentary delegation will not participate in subsequent Euronest sessions”.

According to Papuashvili, it is categorically unacceptable when Euronest disregards the will of Georgia’s population and cancels the elections and democratic institutions of a member country according to its own views.

For information, the Parliamentary Assembly of Euronest has published a resolution which also addresses Georgia. As noted in the resolution, recent developments have demonstrated a democratic backsliding.