President Zurabishvili Meets EU Leaders

President Salome Zurabishvili today met with Presidents of the European Council and European Commission, Charles Michel and Ursula von der Leyen, respectively, in Brussels.

“I had a very friendly conversation with both [officials]” President Salome Zurabishvili said in doorstep remarks after the meeting with President Michel.

“I wanted to hear that even though Ukraine, developments in Ukraine and solidarity against Russian aggression is in the center [of attention] for everyone, in this time the situation of Georgia is not forgotten,” she highlighted.

“We are here, and it is important for the EU that our path toward Europe continues and that we take the measures and implement reforms that are necessary,” the President said.

In the President’s opinion, a new political environment in Europe will give rise to new a new perspective for the Associated Trio countries — Georgia, Ukraine and Moldova — “and we all must be ready for it.”

President Michel in his remarks alluded to his mediation of the talks between the ruling Georgian Dream party and the opposition in 2021 and the signing April 19 agreement.

“I have tried to do my best [in] the last months to support all possible efforts for the stability, for the economic reforms, for the democratic reforms in Georgia,” he noted.

President Michel asserted the European Council, Commission and Parliament want to demonstrate “clear and concrete support in order to maintain all the efforts, in order to strengthen the ties between Georgia and the EU.”

“We have identified what are our important priorities on which we should work together,” he said, adding “in those extremely difficult times this is very important to stick together, to express a very clear message of support to the international law, to the rules-based international order, the multilateral approach [and] full the respect for the UN charter.”

He also stressed the need for “concrete progress in order to make sure those strong ties between Georgia and EU [are] very visible, tangible for the people in Georgia.”

After meeting with President Zurabishvili earlier on March 1, President von der Leyen tweeted that “the EU stands by Georgia and supports its sovereignty and resilience in these difficult times.”

“We are ready to step up our cooperation, including on cyber security, strategic communication, and hybrid threats,” she added.

The Georgian President arrived in Brussels from Paris, where she met French counterpart Emmanuel Macron on February 28.

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