On May 1, Shalva Papuashvili, Speaker of the Georgian Parliament, described the remarks of Rasa Juknevičienė, the European Parliament rapporteur on Georgia, as “fascist statements” in response to her criticism of Georgia’s political direction.

In response, Papuashvili wrote on social media that “the statements of Lithuanian MEP Rasa Juknevičienė have come close to the border of fascism.” He criticized her language, quoting phrases such as “‘People are to blame’... ‘The infection must be stopped’...” and warned that “if we look at how the hate speech of radicals is developing, next time we, the Georgian people, will be called ‘slaves’ or ‘biomass.’”

Papuashvili emphasized that it was time for Brussels to intervene and halt what he called “this shameful trend that disregards democracy and human dignity.” He concluded his remarks by addressing Juknevičienė directly: “You cannot despise an entire nation by hating Stalin.”

Notably, during a meeting of the European People’s Party, Rasa Juknevičienė, the European Parliament rapporteur on Georgia, recently stated that “the Georgian regime is an example of the Kremlin taking over the state from within” and warned that “the same thing could happen to EU countries if we do not stop this infection in time.”