The Speaker of the Parliament of Georgia, Shalva Papuashvili, has criticized the EU Ambassador to Tbilisi, Paweł Herczyński, once again accusing him of attempting to drag the country into war. On Saturday, the diplomat took part in “Europe Day” celebrations in Kakheti, addressing attendees in Georgian.
“We saw the EU Ambassador dancing, and it is very good that the EU Ambassador has the opportunity to dance in Georgia. I hope the ambassador realized, at least the following day: if we had listened to his leadership, nobody in Georgia would be in the mood for dancing today. Good for him to dance and make merry, we are not asking for gratitude; let him simply realize that had we listened to him, the EU Ambassador himself would likely not be in Georgia today—he would have been evacuated,” Papuashvili said, as quoted by the IPN news agency.
According to the parliamentary speaker, if Georgian authorities had acted against the interests of the people and followed the directives of European Union leaders and the ambassador, Georgia would today be a war-torn country.
“I hope the EU Ambassador realized, at least the following day, that had we trusted his leadership, no one in Georgia would be in the mood for dancing today. Georgia would now be an economically devastated country, a country ravaged by war. We do not need gratitude from him, we do not expect it, but I hope he is aware: he only has the opportunity to dance and celebrate because the government of Georgia did not follow the lead of him and his superiors, but acted in the national interests of the country and its people.
Good for him to dance and celebrate, we ask for no gratitude; let him simply understand that if we had listened to him, no one would be dancing, and the EU Ambassador himself would no longer be in Georgia—he would have been evacuated. Just as all diplomatic missions were evacuated from Kyiv when the ambassadors left the Ukrainian capital. Only the Georgian ambassador remained until the very end, whom Zelenskyy subsequently expelled from his country.”
According to Papuashvili, the European Union Delegation has turned “Europe Days” into days of hatred toward Europe and is openly positioning itself as a political player.
“The EU Delegation organizes these events without the involvement of the Georgian authorities. They do not even invite the country’s leadership, as if they exist here in some kind of vacuum, in a territory without governing authorities. We see that in reality, this has turned into days of European hatred. <…>
I do not know whether he intends to continue these hate campaigns, but given his persistence, I am certain he will come up with something similar. He cynically tries to impose figures on Georgian society who insult people and sow discord. This reflects an unfortunate reality: we are dealing with a political actor, not a diplomatic mission.”
Papuashvili believes that such actions by Paweł Herczyński constitute a direct violation of the Vienna Convention. According to him, the EU Delegation “has already openly declared itself a political force, losing its status as an impartial diplomatic mission.”