NEWARK – U.S. Senator Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, today joined his counterparts from Germany, Lithuania, Estonia, Latvia, Poland and the Czech Republic in issuing the following statement regarding recent anti-democratic developments in Georgia:
“The storming of the office of the United National Movement, the largest opposition party in Georgia, in order to arrest Nika Melia, its Chairman, exposed the fragility of democracy and freedom in Georgia. Violence is incompatible with the stated aspirations of the Georgian Government and contravenes the 8 March 2020 Agreement between the government and opposition and facilitated by ambassadors of the European Union and the United States in Tbilisi.
“We call on the Georgians to come together to find political solutions to the problems we have seen emerge in recent years and not to resort to the tactics we have seen practiced by others to the detriment of the interests of the Georgian people.
“The destabilizing and antidemocratic actions, starting after the parliamentary election and continuing until most recently, highlight the personal responsibility of all those in positions of power to exercise restraint and the consequences for the whole nation for those who do not. Georgia’s place as a free member of the European family is not in doubt but is put in danger by the violence and assaults on freedom.”
Senator Robert Menendez
Chair of the Committee on Foreign Relations
Senate, United States of America
Senator Pavel Fischer
Chair of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Security
Senate, Czech Republic
Marek Kuchci?ski MP
Chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee
Sejm, Republic of Poland
Rihards Kols MP
Chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee
Saeima, Republic of Latvia
Marko Mihkelson MP
Chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee
Riigikogu, Republic of Estonia
Žygimantas Pavilionis MP
Chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee
Seimas, Republic of Lithuania
Dr Norbert Röttgen MdB
Chair of the Committee on Foreign Affairs
Bundestag, Federal Republic of Germany
Tom Tugendhat MP
Chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee
Parliament, United Kingdom
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