Maka Botchorishvili, the chair of the Georgian Parliament's European Union Integration Committee, on Thursday criticized the European Parliament's recent resolution on the implementation of the country’s Association Agreement with the EU, and stressed the document was “devoid of any basis and serves to create and strengthen false perceptions about Georgia based on deliberate damaging campaigns”. 

Expressing her gratitude to MEPs “who are sincere supporters of Georgia, the MP said the Georgian authorities “value all the opinions and recommendations of EU institutions that serve for Georgia’s democratic advancement and a better future for Georgian citizens in the bloc”. 

“At the same time, it is difficult to take those messages from the EP seriously. The process that we have been observing in the body with regard to Georgia in recent months raises many legitimate questions and provides the opportunity to draw unfavorable conclusions”, she said. 

Botchorishvili pointed out “It is heartbreaking” to observe how this “important institution” was being “captured” by “narrow groups” with the intention of realizing “their own political interests and goals”. 

“Unfortunately, there is a group in the European Parliament today that acts under the guise of supporting Georgia and spares no effort to undermine Georgia’s European future, damage the image of the Georgian state by actively participating in disinformation campaigns, and ignore the achievements of the Georgian authorities that should serve as the foundation for our European future in line with the will of the Georgian people”, the MP noted. 

The legislator alleged the motivation behind the efforts was a topic for a separate discussion, which triggered “many questions” and damaged the image of European institutions. 

She said the resolution on Georgia adopted in June was the result of “precisely their actions. it was supposedly adopted with the pretext of protecting media freedom and, with its absurd accusations, it became the cause for the decision of the European Commission and the European Council with which Georgia’s perspective of joining the European Union was granted without candidate status, unlike Ukraine and Moldova”. 

“You will not find a sensible politician in Europe today who does not think that such an approach to Georgia was a mistake”, Botchorishvili said. 

She stressed for the second time the rapporteur of the EP on Georgia had been obliged not to support the resolution that was prepared on the basis of his own report, “which once again missed its objective and became a tool against Georgia’s interests”. 

“The process that not only failed to eliminate the inaccuracies in the text of the report but also deliberately reinforced the false narratives created on their basis deserves extensive analysis”, the MP said. 

The MP said the ruling party lawmakers and representatives were “sparing no efforts” to ensure Georgia’s progress on its EU path and “as many people as possible are correctly informed about the challenges facing the country as well as about the achievements that prove the European aspirations of the Georgian people”. 

Botchorishvili said the release of currently imprisoned former president of Georgia Mikheil Saakashvili stood behind this “damaging campaign”, with political actors “manipulating European humaneness and wrapping this [Free Misha] operation as a so-called humanitarian mission”.

“Europe and European values are much deeper than our brief activity on the political scene, and dignity is the jewel that adorns every person and institution the most. Once again, thanks to those who, despite everything, tried not to neglect Georgia’s efforts on the path of European integration and to reflect them in the resolution. 

“Thanks to those for whom Georgia is more than one man’s reckless venture and also to those, for whom European values are not based on falseness and who do not look at the European Union through the prism of the Soviet Union”, the MP said. 

The resolution on Wednesday called for the release of Saakashvili on medical grounds and sanctions on the founder of the ruling party and former prime minister Bidzina Ivanishvili.