The News in Brief
Friday, April 14, 2023
Prepared by Messenger Staff
President Zourabichvili Postpones European Parliament Appearance, Blames Georgian Dream
The President of Georgia Salome Zourabichvili's planned appearance to deliver a speech at the European Parliament on April 18 was postponed.
The President's administration published a statement regarding the postponement and cited the process of receiving 'artificially prolonged approval' from the Georgian government as the reason.
As mentioned in the statement of the press service, the "appropriate time" for the speech in the European Parliament will be selected together with the President of the European Parliament.
"Due to the artificially protracted approval process on the part of the Georgian government, the President of Georgia has decided to postpone the most important visit to the city of Strasbourg, because the President believes that this should be a step towards depolarization and not the other way around.
The address to the European Parliament and the opportunity to meet with the highest representatives of the European Union should be used as much as possible to strengthen our candidacy status, and therefore the appropriate time for the speech will be selected together with the President of the European Parliament," the statement reads.
US Ambassador to Georgia Kelly Degnan Responds to BBC's Investigative Piece regarding Davit Kezarashvili
The US Ambassador to Georgia Kelly Degnan responded to the question regarding David Kezerashvili's alleged global fraud scheme.
The question asked whether the BBC information is reliable for the USA and if the USA is considering the sanctioning of Davit Kezerashvili.
"We do not prejudge sanctions. This is a good example of how important investigative journalism is, the investigations carried out by the authorities to provide such information to the public, obtained from open and closed sources, which form the basis for these types of measures.
Of course, we ourselves carry out a thorough process to evaluate information before taking any action. An investigation like the BBC's is an important component. I hope that the Georgian authorities will have the opportunity to investigate such accusations and conduct the investigation themselves.
This is the type of information that could become a part of all of this," said Kelly Degnan.
President Zourabichvili Postpones European Parliament Appearance, Blames Georgian Dream
The President's administration published a statement regarding the postponement and cited the process of receiving 'artificially prolonged approval' from the Georgian government as the reason.
As mentioned in the statement of the press service, the "appropriate time" for the speech in the European Parliament will be selected together with the President of the European Parliament.
"Due to the artificially protracted approval process on the part of the Georgian government, the President of Georgia has decided to postpone the most important visit to the city of Strasbourg, because the President believes that this should be a step towards depolarization and not the other way around.
The address to the European Parliament and the opportunity to meet with the highest representatives of the European Union should be used as much as possible to strengthen our candidacy status, and therefore the appropriate time for the speech will be selected together with the President of the European Parliament," the statement reads.
US Ambassador to Georgia Kelly Degnan Responds to BBC's Investigative Piece regarding Davit Kezarashvili
The question asked whether the BBC information is reliable for the USA and if the USA is considering the sanctioning of Davit Kezerashvili.
"We do not prejudge sanctions. This is a good example of how important investigative journalism is, the investigations carried out by the authorities to provide such information to the public, obtained from open and closed sources, which form the basis for these types of measures.
Of course, we ourselves carry out a thorough process to evaluate information before taking any action. An investigation like the BBC's is an important component. I hope that the Georgian authorities will have the opportunity to investigate such accusations and conduct the investigation themselves.
This is the type of information that could become a part of all of this," said Kelly Degnan.