President of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly (OSCE PA ) and a member of the Finnish Parliament Pia Kauma has canceled the visit to Georgia planned for January 8-10.

• "The decision was not made due to outside pressure," OSCE PA told the Accent.

According to OSCE PA, the decision made because, as Ms. Kauma said an interview with RFE/RL:

"It would have been very important to engage with all the important counterparts in Georgian society, including the opposition and civil society organizations. But it seemed that there was not enough willingness to meet us at this point, and I think that while it is important that we, on the OSCE side, show initiative to travel to Georgia, there has to be enough, how to put it, welcoming spirit in the country too."

When she was asked, "And this welcoming spirit was lacking on which part? Or why was the welcoming spirit in short supply?", she replied:

"I received a letter from three opposition parties saying that they would rather see me coming later or they would like to have certain conditions in place before I come. One of them was regarding setting a date for new elections, and the other was regarding the detained protesters- that those people should be released. And at this point, of course, it would be very difficult for me to meet these requirements. But I would like to add that the government officials were willing to meet with us and were also very prepared and ready to discuss all the recommendations set by ODIHR."

After the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly President postponed his visit to Georgia, Georgian Dream Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze linked this to an "internationally coordinated event."

"We once had a conversation with Ms. Pia Kauma about how liberal fascism works, for example in Georgia, and in fact, she herself felt the effect of liberal fascism best. I think Ms. Kauma also saw that this [ liberal fascism] is coordinated on a large scale. This is not a Georgian event, this is an internationally coordinated event," Irakli Kobakhidze told journalists on January 7.

The visit announcement sparked harsh criticism from the opposition parties and the fifth President of Georgia Salome Zurabishvili, as well as some of Georgia’s Western partners. They warned that the visit would be manipulated by the ruling Georgian Dream party for claiming the "legitimacy of illegitimate government and parliament."