TBILISI, September 21 – Georgia’s parliament speaker Shalva Papuashvili on Monday ruled out the possibility of the country joining the European Union without Abkhazia and South Ossetia.
Abkhazia and South Ossetia broke away from Georgian government control in the 1990s during the breakup of the Soviet Union. Russia recognized both as independent states following the 2008 war, but most other countries continue to regard them as part of Georgia, rejecting their de facto authorities as illegitimate.
Papuashvili criticized opposition politician Nika Gvaramia for a proposal to shelve the claim to Abkhazia and seek EU membership, following Armenia’s renouncing its claim to the enclave Nagorno-Karabakh in 2025. Gvaramia has suggested that Armenia had been able to develop closer relations with Brussels after moving past the loss of Nagorno-Karabakh, and that Georgia should take a similar approach to Abkhazia.
The speaker also criticized remarks by former president Mikheil Saakashvili and opposition politician Giorgi Baramidze to what he described as a coordinated campaign to promote Georgian EU membership without Abkhazia and South Ossetia. He alleged that the campaign was being directed from abroad and would ultimately mean handing the two regions over to Russia.
Political analyst Gia Abashidze expressed similar concerns in comments to the newspaper Rezonansi. He criticized proposals for Georgia to pursue EU or NATO membership without its breakaway territories, arguing that such an approach would damage the country’s interests.
Conflict specialist Paata Zakareishvili challenged Papuashvili’s position. He told Rezonansi that EU integration could help Georgia resolve its territorial disputes peacefully by offering Abkhazians and South Ossetians an alternative to closer ties with Russia.
Zakareishvili argued that Georgia did not need to settle its territorial disputes before pursuing EU membership, pointing to Ukraine and Moldova, which are also seeking to join the bloc while facing unresolved territorial conflicts. He said Georgia should resume its EU integration efforts and criticized the government for using the territorial disputes as a reason to distance itself from Brussels.
