The European Commissioner for Neighborhood Policy and Expansion, Oliver Varhelyi, considers the Georgian Prime Minister’s statement out of context. Irakli Kobakhidze said earlier that one of the European Commissioners threatened him during the telephone conversation. Irakli Kobakhidze claims that “one of the European Commissioners” listed several measures that Western politicians could take after overcoming the veto on the “foreign agents” law and, listing these measures, noted: “You see what happened with (Slovak Prime Minister) Fico, and you have to be very careful.”
For his part, Oliver Varhelyi noted that, given Georgia’s current political situation, he is making significant efforts to convince the political leadership not to adopt the controversial law, “which can disrupt Georgia’s path to the EU.”
“Fully aware of the powerful pro-European sentiments in the Georgian society, during the telephone conversation, I considered it necessary to draw the Prime Minister’s attention to how important it is not to aggravate the already unstable situation with the adoption of this law, which may lead to further polarization and possible uncontrollable situations on the streets of Tbilisi. In this regard, the recent tragic event in Slovakia was cited as an example of what such a high societal polarization can lead to, even in Europe.”
Varhelyi continued that not only was part of the phone conversation completely taken out of context, but it was also presented to the public “in a way that could lead to a complete misinterpretation of the original purpose of the phone conversation.”
The European Commissioner calls on the Georgian authorities not to adopt the law on “foreign agents” and continues to support Georgians who aspire to a European future.
