Tbilisi Mayor: Georgia will not tolerate the EU blackmail

Kakha Kaladze, the secretary General of the ruling Georgian Dream party and the mayor of Tbilisi, has criticized Western pressures on the country. He stated that using financial assistance or candidate status as a form of blackmail to join the EU is unacceptable.

“Both financial blackmail and blackmail with candidate status, as well as blackmail regarding the start or non-start of negotiations, are absolutely unacceptable for us. We want friendship and partnership, but on the basis of equality,” Sputnik Georgia states, citing Kaladze.

This comment comes amid Germany suspending projects worth 237 million euros, which, according to German Ambassador to Georgia Peter Fischer, is connected with the country’s retreat from European integration and the suppression of protests.

Kaladze added that the authorities are ready to compensate for potential losses.

“If there is a need to support certain sectors, the budget of Georgia is ready to help today. We will always stand by the people,” he said.