Irakli Kadagishvili, a member of the "Georgian Dream" party and Chairman of the Committee on Procedural Issues and Rules of the Parliament, responded to the European Union's decision to freeze 30 million euros in aid to the Georgian Defense Forces. According to Kadagishvili, this amount does not resolve anything.
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"One thing is regrettable - when the armed forces, which were the mission of the European Union, were on the verge of failure and should have brought shame to the European Union, Georgia, not a country of the European Union, stood on the side of the European Union, and this mission in the Central African Republic was not disrupted by our participation.
This 30 million does not solve anything, and it was not directly used for arming our army, to be honest.
Taking this away from the army, that is, from Georgia as a state, and giving it to non-governmental organizations, which cannot have their activities and budget transparent, speaks of a double standard," Kadagishvili told TV Pirveli.
Ambassador of the European Union Pawel Herczynski yesterday confirmed the information that the European Union has suspended the payment of 30 million euros from the European Peace Fund to Georgia, and in case of "deterioration of the situation," other measures will be considered. In addition, Herchinskiy noted that the financial support of the European Union to the governments of Georgia has always been ten times more than the support of civil society; however, this will change after the adoption of the Russian law.
The support of the European Peace Fund was increasing - 12.75 million euros were approved in December 2021, 20 million euros in 2022, and 30 million euros in 2023 to strengthen the Georgian Defense Forces. Last year, non-lethal equipment, supplies, services, and, depending on the need, technical training were financed for the units of the Georgian Defense Forces. Non-lethal equipment includes engineering, command and control, medical, logistics, and cyber defense equipment.
Chairman of the Parliament of Georgia Shalva Papuashvili responded to the freezing of 30 million euros on July 9. In response to the EU ambassador, he wrote on Facebook that in 2014, the government of Georgian Dream saved this mission from failure by sending 150 soldiers to the EU military mission in the Central African Republic.
The President of Georgia, Salome Zourabichvili, assessed the suspension of EU aid as a response to the "reckless and hostile policy" of the ruling party.
