TBILISI, October 17 – Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze sharply criticized the European Commission on Friday, accusing its press office of showing “direct support” for what he described as an attempted coup and of remaining silent about the recent attempted storming of the presidential palace in Tbilisi.
Speaking to reporters, Kobakhidze said the Commission should have publicly condemned the incident, which occurred during anti-government protests earlier this month. “After that, they had even more responsibility to condemn the real act committed by participants of the rally. I mean the attempt to storm the palace,” he said.
The prime minister added that the Commission’s inaction “shows the difficult state of European bureaucracy” and said he hoped “European institutions will somehow find a way out of this condition.”
The confrontation marks the latest flashpoint in Georgia’s increasingly strained relationship with the European Union, which the country has officially sought to join but where political rhetoric has turned more hostile in recent months.
Kobakhidze’s comments came shortly after Shalva Papuashvili, the Speaker of Parliament, also denounced Brussels’ lack of response. In a post on social media, Papuashvili said, “It’s been 13 days, and Brussels still hasn’t condemned the violent storming of the president’s palace. It’s a shame.”
Neither the European Commission nor the EU delegation in Georgia had publicly responded to the remarks as of Friday afternoon.
The Georgian government has repeatedly accused Western officials of taking the opposition’s side during protests, while EU representatives have urged the country to uphold democratic standards and maintain its stated path of European integration.
