Brexit might increase chances for Georgia's integration into EU, President Salome Zurabishvili says
By Nika Gamtsemlidze
Monday, April 8
“The stage is empty for us to fill it with whatever we can come up with.’’ Noted Zurabishvili in an interview with Bloomberg. As the president said, Georgia should use Brexit as a chance for becoming part of the EU.
“There is a logic that the country that has been steadily moving toward and wanting Europe can’t be treated less than the country that’s steadily moving away from Europe.’’
As the president said, the country will continue to benefit from the process of Brexit. In 2014, Georgia already signed an Association Agreement with EU, which includes free-trade pact and since 2017, Georgian people have the privilege to travel in Schengen Area countries with the visa-free agreement.
Georgia’s new president also talked about the country’s chances of becoming a part of NATO. As she said, Georgia is “absolutely ready” and “If we were to get the Membership Action Plan, everybody knows that we would be ready in two months.’’
As Jens Stoltenberg, Secretary-General of NATO said, “Russia can’t stop Georgia [from] joining the alliance”. Zurabishvili also said that everyday provocations by Russia are pointless because Georgia will continue to seek EU and NATO membership.
French-born Salome Zurabishvili says that she hopes that she can help Georgian society get over “what I call post-Soviet syndrome” and to become a real European Society. She thinks that the country has a long way to go to change the mentality of the nation.
President of Georgia also talked about the country’s relationship with Russia and noted that there is no time for conversation, especially because “there are not very clear signs that something is changing’’.
A planned summer conference with EU leaders in Batumi will be “an excellent opportunity for us to put down some of our vision of where we are going,’’ noted Zurabishvili. She also says that Georgia should “continue exploiting whatever might happen with Brexit.”
Georgia’s ex-ambassador to the UK, Giorgi Badridze said, that Zurabishvili’s message might be very harsh, and it could cause some unpleasant questions from the UK. “Why does the president assume that there is a vacancy that will be available for Georgia, after Brexit?” noted Badridze.
Zurabishvili fought for Georgia to be part of EU since 2003’s Rose Revolution, alongside ex-president Mikheil Saakashvili, before becoming a fierce critic of Saakashvili’s actions. Backed with Georgian Dream party, she became Georgia’s first female president in 2018.
