Georgian Parliament Speaker: EU membership has no value for Georgia without Abkhazia, Tskhinvali region

Georgian Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili said on Monday that European Union membership would have no value for Georgia without Abkhazia and Tskhinvali region.

Papuashvili claimed that a campaign promoting the idea of “Georgia in the EU without Abkhazia and Tskhinvali” was currently being “orchestrated from abroad”.

“There is no longer any doubt that the statements made by Gia Baramidze, Mikheil Saakashvili and Nika Gvaramia were not slips of the tongue. This is part of a campaign, and Gvaramia himself described the goal of this campaign”, Papuashvili said.

He referred to comments by opposition politician Nika Gvaramia, who, according to Papuashvili, compared the issue of Abkhazia with the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and argued that Georgia should similarly “leave behind” the issue of Abkhazia in order to strengthen relations with Brussels.

“This is part of the campaign - Georgia in the EU without Abkhazia and Tskhinvali. This is the campaign today, and it appears to be orchestrated from abroad”, the Speaker noted.

He also drew a parallel with discussions over Ukraine, claiming that Kyiv was being told it would have to make territorial concessions in order to accelerate its development and make its European perspective more realistic.

“Direct propaganda has been launched: ‘Georgia in the EU without Abkhazia and Tskhinvali’. I will repeat once again, for all propagandists inside the country and for all those commissioning this propaganda abroad: EU membership has no value for Georgia without Abkhazia and the Tskhinvali region”, Papuashvili said.

“Everyone must remember this and stop testing the waters”, he concluded.