Salome Zourabichvili, the president of Georgia, has spoken to TVP World about her country’s European ambitions on the sideline of the Warsaw Security Forum.
President Zourabichvili said a clear majority of her country’s citizens are pro-EU and expressed confidence that parliamentary elections later this month would confirm Georgia’s accession plans.
She said the public were about 40% to 60% in favor of EU entry and that she was taking the coming poll as a referendum on the issue.
“Independence, freedom are things that Georgians are not ready to let go,” she said, adding that Georgians understand very well that the way to preserve these values is “with our European partners, with our American partners.”
In this context, she said the government of the Georgian Dream party was a threat to these aspirations as “the rhetoric has become more and more aggressive towards our partners.”
But she said Georgian Dream is losing support and that pro-European trends are in the ascendancy. Therefore, she said, she was confident of the “determination of the Georgian people not to lose its European chance.”
In terms of international security, she said Georgians felt threatened by Russia and that attempts by Moscow to manipulate the border between the countries were aimed at achieving greater control over the Black Sea.
She said it was in the interests of Georgia, Ukraine, Moldova and the EU to keep the Black Sea “a sea of cooperation and not a sea of war.”
Zourabichvili said she intends to run again for the presidency when her current term expires at the end of the year. For the next presidential election, new rules will be in place giving a parliamentary college of electors the power to choose the head of state.
Zourabichvili said she intended to secure the post for another term and to use her election as a political mandate to go to Brussels for EU accession talks.
She said the public were about 40% to 60% in favor of EU entry and that she was taking the coming poll as a referendum on the issue.
“Independence, freedom are things that Georgians are not ready to let go,” she said, adding that Georgians understand very well that the way to preserve these values is “with our European partners, with our American partners.”
In this context, she said the government of the Georgian Dream party was a threat to these aspirations as “the rhetoric has become more and more aggressive towards our partners.”
But she said Georgian Dream is losing support and that pro-European trends are in the ascendancy. Therefore, she said, she was confident of the “determination of the Georgian people not to lose its European chance.”
In terms of international security, she said Georgians felt threatened by Russia and that attempts by Moscow to manipulate the border between the countries were aimed at achieving greater control over the Black Sea.
She said it was in the interests of Georgia, Ukraine, Moldova and the EU to keep the Black Sea “a sea of cooperation and not a sea of war.”
Zourabichvili said she intends to run again for the presidency when her current term expires at the end of the year. For the next presidential election, new rules will be in place giving a parliamentary college of electors the power to choose the head of state.
Zourabichvili said she intended to secure the post for another term and to use her election as a political mandate to go to Brussels for EU accession talks.
