Parliament Speaker says ruling party has no desire to meet visiting official of Bundestag due to insulting statements about “Georgian people, Church, Georgian democracy”

Georgian Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili on Monday said the ruling Georgian Dream party had no desire to meet with Michael Roth, the Chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the German Bundestag, who is on a visit to Georgia, as he had insulted the Georgian people, the Church, and Georgian democracy.

Roth in June said that “all churches, religions and their congregations are obliged to withstand criticism, but some people still have problems with this - in my case it is the Georgian Orthodoxy, as well as Islam”.

In his remark, Papuashvili claimed that the German official had visited the country to support the domestic opposition ahead of the parliamentary elections scheduled for October 26.

Papuashvili further noted that Roth had not apologised for his statement yet and expressed his hope that the international observer missions would reflect on this visit as the interference of a foreign politician in the election campaign.

“[Roth] insulted the Georgian people, so that says it all. It's a shame that we haven't heard any remorse from him on this issue. When he comes to support the opposition, it means participating in the election campaign, it means the interference of a representative of a foreign country in the internal politics and election campaign, however, as far as I know, we see that the opposition seems to approve of his positions, approves of his insulting the church, the Government, and the people”, Papuashvili noted.