The Georgian Prime Minister criticized the European Parliament's decision on the accreditation of journalists
Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze commented on the European Parliament’s decision to restrict access for journalists from the pro-government TV channel TV Imedi. The media representatives had their accreditation revoked for one year, prompting a sharp reaction from the Georgian government.
SOVA reported this on May 15.
Kobakhidze criticized the decision, stating that European institutions are “effectively losing face” and ceasing to pay attention to the principles of media freedom.
According to him, such actions “do not meet any standards” and demonstrate that freedom of speech and the media are no longer a priority for the European Parliament.
“You can see that European institutions are practically losing face entirely. Media freedom no longer means anything to them. What the UK started, the European Parliament has now continued,” he said.
“The European Parliament is increasingly beginning to resemble—or, more accurately, already resembles—the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union. This is a tragic situation we are witnessing. We hope that all of this will be rectified in the future,” Kobakhidze concluded.
It is worth noting that Moldova has refused to grant accreditation to Imedi TV and two other pro-government Georgian TV channels, POSTV and Rustavi 2; consequently, correspondents from these TV stations will not be able to attend the meeting of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe in Chisinau on May 15–16.
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