Upon arrival in Tbilisi, Georgia, Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said at a press conference: “I would like to congratulate you on the fact that, in the context of the desire for European integration, you have not allowed your country to be turned into a second Ukraine.” He added, after seeing reports on the Oct. 26 Georgian elections from international observers, he had concluded that “this election was fair and democratic.” He congratulated the ruling party Georgian Dream on an “overwhelming” election victory. The party ended up with around 54% of the vote, against less than 39% of the united opposition.
Contrary to Western accounts, Georgian Dream is in favor of Tbilisi joining the EU and working with both the East and the West. It is the foreign-financed opposition that insists that there be no such neutral ground, that if one is not anti-Russian enough, one cannot be in the EU. Orbán is famous for his significant differences with Moscow, yet his policy is to work with both those he agrees with and those with whom he has differences. EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell weighed in, announcing that Orbán was not representing the EU in his trip to Georgia, even though Hungary now holds the bloc’s rotating presidency.
After he had passed by a rally of the opposition near Tbilisi’s government offices, the leader of the attempt to nullify the Oct. 26 elections, President Salome Zourabichvili, was not above the reckless action of targetting Orbán. She called out to the crowd: “No one, except the one who just went by, recognizes these elections.”
