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Papuashvili: If Georgia had listened to Brussels, it would have become a state only on paper

Speaker of the Georgian Parliament Shalva Papuashvili

07 October 2026 12:25 (UTC +04:00)

“I believe it is better to be a candidate country only on paper than to be a state only on paper. If we had listened to Brussels, Georgia today would have become a state existing only on paper for many reasons,” Speaker of the Georgian Parliament Shalva Papuashvili said while commenting to journalists on a statement made the previous day by EU Commissioner for Enlargement Marta Kos, APA’s local bureau reports.

According to him, if Georgia had listened to Brussels and escalated tensions with Russia, it would have suffered economic damage on the scale of Moldova.

“In that case, we would most likely have been drawn into a new military conflict with Russia and become a war-torn country like Ukraine. According to Brussels, our main ‘fault’ is that we do not follow their harmful advice, and the Georgian people have only benefited from this,” Shalva Papuashvili added.

Note that EU Commissioner for Enlargement Marta Kos said the previous day that Georgia is an EU candidate country only on paper. She stressed that she wished Georgia were today at the same level as Moldova and Ukraine.

Jamila Babayeva

Shalva Papuashvili Georgia Brussels European Union Marta Kos EU enlargement Russia Moldova Ukraine Georgian Parliament EU candidate status Georgia-EU relations