Brussels, 11/05/2015 (Agence Europe) - On Monday 11 May, Georgia's President Giorgi Margvelashvili said he thought that 2015 and the Eastern Partnership summit in Riga on 21-22 May should enable answers to be given on the European future of the Eastern neighbourhood countries.
“We have done our part of the work. We think the Riga summit will contribute to evolution in Georgia and to its European path in order to accomplish our stated objective of Georgia becoming a member of the EU”, Margvelashvili told the European Parliament's foreign affairs committee. Georgia signed its association agreement with the EU in June. “Through the association agreement, we are saying that we are interested in the European outlook. For us, this is a cultural, political and geopolitical approach”, he said.
Georgia also hopes to benefit from visa liberalisation soon, but an announcement on this may not take place before the Riga summit (see EUROPE 11311). While the country has made progress, “very precise” issues still need to be settled, said European Commissioner for Neighbourhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations Johannes Hahn at a press conference.
“2014 was an important year for Georgia (…) and for all of Europe. There were very important questions posed that year and the answers should come, one way or another, in 2015. Part of the answer is closely linked to Riga and to the decisions adopted, and will depend on the answers of our allies and friends to all the complications in Ukraine and as part of the Eastern Partnership”, Margvelashvili told the Parliament.
In his view, the questions are “Do the countries around Russia deserve to be free and democratic, and to be able to make a free choice? Do they deserve the aid and support of their friends?” and how the “future of these two economic blocs can be built which have divided the six countries of the Eastern Partnership”. Georgia, the Republic of Moldova and Ukraine have signed an association agreement with the EU; Belarus and Armenia are part of the Eurasian Union with Russia; and Azerbaijan remains close to Moscow.
Margvelashvili also said he hoped his country might joint NATO. (Camille-Cerise Gessant)