Hungary has once again come out in defense of the Georgian government
Amid an unprecedented crisis in Tbilisi's relations with Western partners, Georgian Dream MPs have visited Hungary. The Georgian government calls this country its main friend in Europe, which is confirmed by new statements by Hungarian high-ranking officials.
"It's time for the bureaucrats in Brussels and the Soros network to stop attacking the Georgian government. I expressed my support to the Speaker of Parliament Papuashvili in their fight for Georgia's sovereignty," Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban wrote on the social network X after a meeting with Shalva Papuashvili in Budapest.
Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto, in turn, said that his country would not suspend the visa-free regime for diplomatic and service passports of Georgia.
"We think that it is not Brussels but Georgia that should make a decision about the country's future, and the Georgians have made a very clear decision whether Brussels likes it or not," Szijjarto summed up after the meeting of the EU foreign ministers.
Recall that Szijjarto had previously stated that Budapest was ready to veto any proposals to impose sanctions against Georgia.
"If the opposition had won the elections, Brussels would have been shouting loudly about democracy in Georgia... Now they are doing everything to deny and ignore the will of the citizens [of Georgia]. They are doing this in a completely undemocratic style. They are questioning the will of the Georgian people, which they expressed through democratic elections. This is a serious and, let's say, boring game of the liberal mainstream, which will be rejected," the Hungarian diplomat said.
At the EU meeting on the issue of introducing sanctions against the Georgian authorities, when the partial suspension of the visa-free regime was put up for discussion, only two countries spoke out against it – Hungary and Slovakia. Their position did not affect the outcome, since only a qualified majority was required to make a decision.
It is noteworthy that the Hungarian Prime Minister was the first to congratulate the Georgian Dream on its victory in the parliamentary elections, without even waiting for the official results. He also became the first foreign leader to visit Georgia after the elections, but the authorities of 13 European countries stated that Orban does not represent the EU on this visit.
Daily protests against the government have been taking place in Georgia for two months now. The reason for this was the statement made on November 28 by the government about suspending the country's European integration process. This happened a month after the parliamentary elections, the results of which were not recognized by the opposition and the fifth President of Georgia, Salome Zurabishvili. The rallies taking place in the capital and other large Georgian cities are being harshly suppressed by the authorities using violence. Georgia's Western partners - the US and most EU countries - accuse official Tbilisi of rolling back democracy and react by imposing sanctions. One of them was the EU's "freezing" of the visa-free regime for holders of Georgian diplomatic and service passports.
