In the past couple years, Georgia has been Europeanising: policies, practices and laws have been adjusted to EU standards to secure an Association Agreement (AA), a Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Agreement (DCFTA) and a visa-free regime. However, we can observe the Europeanisation not only of Georgia’s policies, but also of its political culture. Although the Georgian and European political cultures still have little in common, the West has become a key point of reference in the debates on Georgian national identity.

On November 22th 2007, a new monument was unveiled in Tbilisi. It was a statue of the Greek mythological hero Prometheus. Surprisingly, the presidents of Poland, Lithuania and Georgia attended this event. This was not a coincidence, but for historical reasons Lech Kaczyński, Valdas Adamkus and Mikheil Saakashvili – the then-presidents of Poland, Lithuania and Georgia, respectively – participated in this event.

While many leftists have rejected the EuroMaidan as a vehicle of Ukrainian nationalism, the protests actually have less to do with chauvinism and more with leftist ideals of social equality and an outrage against the government’s abuses.