Speaker Papuashvili criticizes EU ministers for ‘missing another chance’ to ‘condemn violence’ in Georgia

Georgian Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili has criticized the outcome of Monday’s EU Foreign Affairs Council in Luxembourg, calling it “another missed opportunity” for European leaders to condemn the “recent violence” outside the Presidential Palace in Tbilisi.

In a statement posted on social media on Tuesday, Papuashvili said that by refusing to condemn what he described as a “violent assault” on 4 October, European officials had failed to uphold their own principles.

“Yesterday’s EU Foreign Affairs Council in Luxembourg was yet another missed opportunity for EU Commissioners and ministers to denounce the violent storming of Georgia’s Presidential Palace on 4 October. Instead, we once again heard attacks on the Georgian people based on false narratives,” Papuashvili wrote.

He added that “shielding perpetrators of violence means justifying violence, and justifying it encourages further violence.”

The Speaker urged Brussels to “return to the fundamental European values” and to “reject the use of violence as a political tool.”