Georgian PM claims European officials obeying “deep state” directives

Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze on Friday strongly criticised what he described as ongoing “unfair treatment” of the Georgian people by European officials, acting under the influence of the “deep state”.

Speaking to journalists, Kobakhidze claimed that in 2022 Georgia was unfairly and unjustifiably denied EU candidate status, and this injustice continues to this day.

“In 2022, we were told ‘no’ to candidate status without any justification. This was a refusal directed at the Georgian people. We were then denied the opening of accession negotiations, and this unfairness continues through the actions of European bureaucrats, which is deeply unfortunate”, the PM said.

He stressed that the Georgian Government had fulfilled all necessary conditions to receive candidate status, but to this day, no explanation had been provided as to why Georgia was refused in June 2022.

“You know the bigger picture - after we refused to open a second front following the war in Ukraine, we were denied candidate status completely unfairly and without any reasoning. A year and a half went by before we were granted the status, then we were refused accession talks. This pattern of injustice continues. We’ve done everything expected of us. If European bureaucrats are given different instructions, the situation may change. But right now, they are being directed by the deep state to act against our national interests, which is extremely regrettable”, he added.

Kobakhidze also claimed that a representative of the so-called “deep state” privately demanded that Georgia impose sanctions and send volunteer fighters to Ukraine. According to him, after Georgia refused, Ukraine recalled its ambassador from Tbilisi - a decision that was not publicly criticized by any European official.