Ruling party’s Kirtskhalia says public ‘made clear choice’ amid criticism of EU Ambassador

Georgia’s parliamentary majority leader, Irakli Kirtskhalia, on Monday said the Georgian public had “made a very clear choice” and alleged that this was something critics “cannot accept”.

He said statements made by EU Ambassador Paweł Herczyński were “insulting”, though “not new” for Georgian society.

“Unfortunately, such arrogant and offensive rhetoric is nothing new for us. Society has, in a way, become used to this audacity and arrogance, whether it comes from the EU Ambassador or another diplomatic representative,” he stated.

Kirtskhalia also accused foreign diplomats of interfering in Georgia’s electoral processes, alleging that they had openly shown support for certain political parties during both parliamentary and local elections.

He further argued that these representatives had “gone beyond every moral boundary in the host country”, claiming that the public now clearly understood “who they really are” and what agenda they were allegedly pursuing.

Kirtskhalia maintained that the Georgian state’s response to what he described as offensive rhetoric had been appropriate, adding that “a self-respecting state must react to such insults”.