European Parliamentarian Viola von Cramon, speaking about developments in Georgia, emphasized the need to focus on conducting parliamentary elections transparently. She stated that the Russian law reintroduced by the ruling Georgian Dream is primarily aimed at non-governmental organizations that monitor elections, expose flaws, and detect fraud.
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Today, at a press conference held in the European Parliament, Nika Gvaramia, Ahali party founder, participated along with MEPs. Viola von Cramon also responded to the so-called Offshore Law adopted in an accelerated manner in the Georgian Parliament. She stated that this law, in the hands of Bidzina Ivanishvili, is a tool to recover assets and money from offshore accounts in the event of sanctions.
“What can we do? I think we should come up with the sanctions as soon as possible to make sure that it is really targeted against those who want to transform Georgia in a different way, who want to transform and who want to build Georgia according to a Russian model. This is not acceptable. And second of all, of course, we should not be fooled by the Georgian Dream. I mean, come on, we are professionals and we know exactly what's going on. We observe very, very closely what's going on in Georgia,” von Cramon stated.
She noted that she was in favor of granting Georgia candidate status, even though not everyone in the European Parliament and European institutions shared this view, because she believed and is still convinced that the Georgian people and Georgian civil society deserve it. In addition, Viola von Cramon said that Georgian Dream misused the status for its own purposes. According to the European parliamentarian, it will be impossible to start negotiations on Georgia's accession to the European Union if the Russian law is not withdrawn.
"It is impossible to oppose European values with this kind of law and then demand to join. Of course, I will demand [if the law is adopted] to withdraw the candidate's status," Von Cramon said.
Viola von Cramon is the author of the draft resolution presented today in the European Parliament on behalf of the Greens/European Free Alliance (Verts/ALE). The document discusses imposing sanctions on individuals who accept the Russian Law. The draft resolution was also presented by members of the European People's Party, the largest group. They demand that the European Union impose sanctions not only on the deputies of the Georgian Parliament who will vote for the Russian law but also on Georgian Dream honorary chairman, Bidzina Ivanishvili. The reconciled version of the resolution will be voted on in the European Parliament on April 25.
