TBILISI, May 8 – A new row has broken out in Georgia over how to mark May 9, a date that carries two very different meanings: Europe Day for the European Union and Victory Day over Nazi Germany for many post-Soviet countries.
Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili has written to EU Ambassador Pawel Herczynski, accusing him of separating Europe Day from the World War Two victory anniversary.
Papuashvili said in the letter that, in last year’s Europe Day address to the Georgian people, the ambassador chose to ignore the anniversary of the end of World War Two and instead focused on political claims against the host country.
The speaker argued that Europe Day could not be detached from the defeat of fascism, saying Georgia paid a heavy price in that war. According to Papuashvili, around 300,000 Georgians died for a Europe free from fascism. He said there is no family in Georgia that did not sacrifice someone in the war.
The issue is sensitive because Georgia’s ruling party has increasingly clashed with Brussels, while still insisting that it wants relations with Europe based on respect for national identity and sovereignty.
For Georgian Dream, May 9 is first of all Victory Day. Asked earlier this week whether the ruling party would attend an event planned by foreign embassies for Europe Day, Papuashvili said organizers should be asked about their own plans, but that his party would primarily mark victory over fascism.
He added that without the defeat of fascism, Europe Day and the European Union as they exist today would not have been possible, underlining that hundreds of thousands of Georgians fought and died in World War Two.
