President Zourabichvili: Gov’t once again rejected my visit to Brussels, gov’t inactive over EU

Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili said on Friday that the Georgian Dream government has “once again” rejected her visit to Brussels, noting that the “government’s unfortunate comments” on the recent European Parliament resolution “would not allow her anyway to affective defend Georgia’s interests,” as the country was awaiting the response on its EU candidate status. 

 

Zourabichvili said from Brussels that she would return to Georgia “to defend the country’s interests, the interests of our future generation,” from Tbilisi. 

 

“Neither Saakashvili, Gvaramia or Bidzina Ivanishvili are worth enough to sacrifice the country’s future,” Zourabichvili said. 

 

Zourabichvili stated that she visited Brussels after her official meetings in Italy “to spare no efforts to support our candidacy with the EU leadership.” “I wanted to go to France, Poland and possibly to Ukraine, with whom we are standing on the path and whom we should be grateful for this chance,  but I got another refusal on this trip. I also thought this is not a case where I alone can save the entire inaction of the government,” Zourabichvili stated.

 

The EP resolution on Thursday on Georgia’s media freedom and security of journalists expressed various concerns over the country’s media environment, calling for the transfer of the country’s third President Mikheil Saakashvili for treatment abroad and imposing sanctions on the founder of the ruling party Bidzina Ivanishvili. The Georgian Dream ruling party top figures and MPs slammed the EP for the resolution, stating that it was the “victim of fakes.” 

 

GD MP Dimitri Khundadze said on Friday that If Georgia received the EU candidate status “with the same unjust obligations as the unjust accusations were reflected in the recent European Parliament resolution”, then the country “should give a fair refusal in return.”
Zourabichvili said earlier  that the government rejected her visit to Brussels shortly after the Russian invasion of Ukraine which aimed to express support for Ukraine and promote Georgia’s EU integration. 

 

She said that she paid the visit “anyway, through using personal contacts.” 

 

Now she said that the  government told her that they had already used all measures for the country’s EU candidate status.