Hungary blocked the EU decision on the Saakashvili case, which was offensive to Georgia
Hungary blocked the EU's protest to the Georgian authorities in the case of imprisoned ex-President Mikheil Saakashvili. The Polish radio station RMF FM reported this on the evening of February 15.
Official Budapest does not comment on the situation, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
According to the radio station, Poland has taken the initiative to suspend Saakashvili's sentence so that he can undergo treatment abroad. This proposal was to be included in the EU diplomatic protest that Tbilisi planned to express.
Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said last week after the EU summit that Poland is ready to accept Saakashvili for treatment. However, Poland's proposal was supported by all EU countries except Hungary. EU diplomats assured that they are making every effort to convince Budapest to change its mind.
It is noted that after a possible consensus is reached within the European Union, the instrument of influence on Tbilisi that the EU can resort to is the fact that Georgia has “European aspirations.” However, at the EU summit in June 2022, the European Union granted Georgia only the “prospect of membership”, but not the candidate country status that Ukraine and Moldova then received.
Press Secretary of the head of EU diplomacy Borrell Peter Stano did not comment on the information about the planned demarche of the EU in the Saakashvili case. Hungary also does not comment on the situation surrounding the ex-president of Georgia.
Moreover, back in 2014, when the Georgian authorities began an investigation into the crimes of the Saakashvili regime, Viktor Orban demonstratively met with the ex-president of Georgia in Budapest and made it clear that he could count on asylum in Hungary.
“I am against any politically motivated cases,” the Hungarian Prime Minister said then.
Как reported “PolitNavigator”, the day before, when Vladimir Zelensky arrived at the EU summit, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer did not applaud.
The European Union's initiative to release Saakashvili is a gross interference in the internal affairs of Georgia, says political scientist Shota Akhaidze.
“The European Parliament is one of the organizers of the adventure that the West has started regarding Mikheil Saakashvili. How can an overweight European official in Brussels know whether Saakashvili is actually ill? Or do the Europeans know better than the Georgians what the Saakashvili regime was doing for 9 years?!
Europe has spat on the soul of our people once again, but now this disgrace has been officially formalized by the European Parliament. Brussels is ignoring the legitimate decision of the Georgian judicial system, turning a blind eye to the grave crimes of the Saakashvili regime and deliberately manipulating Saakashvili's illness in order to overthrow the legitimate government of Georgia.
As for the ruling “Georgian Dream”, they played at democracy with the West, and this is the final result. It’s high time to break the current model of Georgia’s relations with the West and finally change the foreign policy vector,” comments political scientist Aphaidze.
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