Ruling party MP defies EU warning, claims Georgia won’t be anyone’s ‘vassal’

Giorgi Chakvetadze, a parliamentary majority MP from the Georgian Dream ruling party, on Tuesday rebuffed a warning from the European Union, declaring that the country seeks “equal partnership, not someone’s vassalage.”

The lawmaker made the remarks after EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Kaja Kallas said Brussels was considering suspending Georgia’s visa-free travel arrangement due to democratic backsliding.

“We are only fulfilling the conditions of the Georgian people. We are ready for an equal partnership, not someone’s vassalage. Georgia is not subject to blackmail. This is exactly how a millennial nation and state have come so far. Glory to our homeland!” Chakvetadze wrote in a statement posted on social media.

Kallas had warned that “all options are on the table,” including the suspension of visa liberalisation, if the Georgian government continued on its current path. She said such a move might force Tbilisi to “change its calculations.”

Georgia has enjoyed visa-free travel to the Schengen Area since 2017- a key benefit of its EU integration process - but EU officials have increasingly signaled that this status could be at risk.