Georgian Parliament Speaker calls on ALDE to condemn Lelo’s xenophobic campaign

Georgian Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili on Saturday called on the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) to respond to what he described as a xenophobic campaign conducted by the Georgian opposition party Lelo, a member of the European political alliance.

Papuashvili made the remarks in a social media post, referencing what he said were two separate controversies involving Lelo and ALDE.

“Lelo, a member of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE), first declared a terrorist to be its colleague and has now launched a xenophobic campaign which, for reference, contradicts ALDE’s stated principle of rejecting ethnic division and xenophobia,” he said.

Papuashvili argued that ALDE had previously failed to distance itself from what he described as Lelo’s association with an alleged terrorist.

“Recently, ALDE missed an opportunity to distance itself from Lelo’s alleged terrorist colleague. One compromise on values is followed by another. Let us see whether ALDE will now stand by the values it has declared and distance itself from xenophobia,” Papuashvili said.