Today, May 31, President of Georgia Salome Zurabishvili gave a speech at the European Parliament. Zurabishvili dedicated her speech to Georgia’s pro-European choice and said that after gaining independence, all governments were working towards this goal.
In her speech, Zurabishvili talked about the 12-point recommendation of the European Union, saying that what is reflected in the recommendations is not strange to Georgia, but represents its cultural, value and heritage choices – “Accordingly, what you are asking from us is that Georgia remains loyal to its identity.”
She noted that Georgia paid a heavy price for independence and belonging to the democratic world.
“After gaining independence, all the governments of Georgia formed pro-European platforms and made constant progress from this point of view: President Gamsakhurdia returned Georgia to the European map of independent nations; President Shevardnadze was the initiator of Euro-Atlantic integration; President Saakashvili set Georgia’s integration into the European Union and NATO as a reform priority – under his leadership, Georgia joined the “neighborhood policy” and the Eastern Partnership.
In 2012, the “Georgian Dream” was elected on the basis of pro-European aspirations, and it achieved a number of transformative successes in this regard, such as association and free trade agreements, as well as visa liberalization. In 2016, amendments to the constitution were approved and European integration was recorded as a goal. And this is something that no one should forget,” she pointed out.
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