Shalva Papuashvili, Speaker of the Parliament of Georgia, has commented on a report from the US House of Representatives alleging that the “European Union interfered in elections in six European countries.”
“The United States has effectively handed down a verdict on the European Union and its democracy, which does not actually exist in the form it is advertised. In reality, systemic election interference occurs within the EU with the involvement of the European Commission and other political structures. These examples have already been documented.
This is a verdict for Brussels: any claims regarding the democratic nature of elections there are nothing but empty words.
We have observed similar examples in Georgia. It was evident here as well that even the EU Ambassador personally participated in the election campaign, and foreign funding was documented. Recall the funding from Denmark: the election campaign was supported through an NGO that facilitated meetings. Until we sparked a scandal in Denmark, the Danish media showed no interest in the story, and the Danish Ambassador avoided and hid from Georgian society.
They handed out money by the ‘suitcase-full’ to influence the elections.
Ultimately, after the media scandal broke out in Denmark, they were forced to shut down the project. It later emerged that the NGO in question had migrated to the Lelo party (*Lelo – Strong Georgia*, which the *Kartuli Otsneba* [Georgian Dream] party is seeking to ban in Georgia — Ed.),” the Speaker stated.
Papuashvili added that all of this is happening openly and in plain sight, carried out by people who, as he put it, call themselves Europeans but in reality represent the Europe of the previous century.
“Such behavior has nothing in common with modern Europe,” Papuashvili concluded.