Segregation of countries by rights radically changes the founding principle of the European Union and turns it from a union of equal nations into a union of “first-class” and “second-class” nations - Shalva Papuashvili

The European Union has always been a rules-based project, which means that all members are equal before these rules. Brussels’ idea of ​​segregating countries by rights radically changes this founding principle of the European Union and turns it from a union of equal nations into a union of “first-class” and “second-class” nations, – Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili writes about this on social media.

According to him, the EU’s slogan “unity in diversity” is increasingly being replaced in practice by the slogan “don’t deviate from the general line”, which means that you will only be accepted into the club if your vote is merely decorative.

“Yesterday, the European Commissioner for Enlargement, Marta Cosma, noted that the EU is considering the idea that future EU members will not have the same voting rights as current members.

At the same time, this also means that after the transition to membership, Georgia, like other new member states, will still have similar obligations to other EU members, although they will not be legally equal to them. In practice, this means that the EU will be able to make decisions on issues of essential importance to Georgia’s national interests without Georgia.

At such a moment, many will probably remember the phrase often repeated by Brussels – “no decision on Ukraine without Ukraine”. The idea being discussed in the EU is to abolish this approach not only to Ukraine, but to all candidate countries. The Ukrainians saw this clearly and declared that they would not agree to second-class membership.

Such trends show that the EU’s slogan – “unity in diversity” – is increasingly being replaced in practice by the slogan – “do not deviate from the general line”, which means that you will only be accepted into the club if your vote is only decorative. Indeed, such an approach would further simplify decision-making – there would be no need for complex discussions, different positions and that part of democracy that implies a different opinion.

The EU has always been a rules-based project, which means that all members are equal before these rules. Brussels' idea of ​​legal segregation of countries radically changes this fundamental principle of the European Union and turns it from a union of equal nations into a union of "first-class" and "second-class" nations.

Therefore, one thing must be said clearly here - in the event of the implementation of this idea, this will no longer be the union for which Georgia applied four years ago, and the pursuit of membership in such a union is not what is written in Article 78 of the Constitution of Georgia.

Georgia already has 70 years of experience of membership in a nominal and unequal union, which we do not intend to repeat. "If the post-Soviet member states of the EU allow such a change, it will turn out that their problem was not with the Soviet Union, but with who dominates such a union," writes Shalva Papuashvili.

For information, European Commissioner for Enlargement Marta Cosma confirmed to journalists before a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Luxembourg that the veto power of new EU members will be limited.