TBILISI. March 13 (Interfax) - Georgian parliamentary speaker Shalva Papuashvili has accused a number of European politicians and ambassadors of European Union countries of employing double standards and interfering in Georgia's internal affairs.
The EU assesses progress made by candidate countries by issuing certain documents, including annual reports, Papuashvili said. The last time the EU published such a document was in October 2024, and it positively reviewed Georgia's achievements on its path toward the EU, he said.
"On the one hand, Georgia is ahead of all [other] candidate countries by its economic performance, and on the other, various European funds subordinate to the EU finance radical Georgian opposition groups and nongovernmental organizations, which seek to derail our economy. This is nothing but double standards," Papuashvili said.
Some European ambassadors to Georgia behave like "governors-general," he said.
"Perhaps they should come to understand in Europe that the people living in Georgia are equal to them in their rights rather than some second-grade creatures, and nobody should come to us as governors-general or viceroys. What is unacceptable in Poland, Germany, or France is also unacceptable in Georgia. I mean ambassadors openly meddling in our internal affairs," Papuashvili said.
That said, Tbilisi is not planning to expel such diplomats, he said.
"We're not speaking of expelling ambassadors. They should just recognize certain rules that are in effect in our country," he said.