For her first visit abroad, the new President of Georgia, Salome Zurabishvili, visited Brussels to recall her country’s commitment to European integration.
This first visit is “a strong, symbolic gesture that marks an absolute priority, enshrined in the Georgian constitution (...) of integration into this Europe to which Georgia belongs by its heart, its culture and its identity”, she stressed to the President of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker. Addressing the President of the European Council, Donald Tusk, Mrs Zurabishvili explained that EU integration was a “central perspective for the development” of her country.
Recalling that her country has been considered as a neighbour of the EU for 15 years, that it has been a member of the Eastern Partnership for 10 years and that the Association Agreement was 5 years old, the President wondered what would happen this year. “Every five years, we have to get something more, and we're ready”, she told Mr. Tusk without giving any more details.
Despite the difficulties facing the EU, she warned, “this does not mean that cooperation and work will be slowed down”. Mrs Zurabishvili hoped that the Batumi conference, scheduled for next July to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Eastern Partnership, would be an opportunity to discuss the future of relations.
Mr Juncker and Mr Tusk supported the President's ambitions. While the first states that Tbilisi is moving “at a rapid and accelerated pace”, the second states that the EU is committed to intensifying cooperation within the framework of the Association Agreement. In his view, the agreement has the potential to further strengthen Georgia's social, economic, political and institutional resilience.
The meetings were an opportunity to take stock of the reforms under way in Georgia. Mr. Tusk praised the country's dedication to reform and recalled the importance of making progress in terms of the rule of law and justice, while Mr. Juncker highlighted the “real progress” under way on the reform of the judicial system. The two Presidents also welcomed the visa liberalisation, which has allowed 300,000 Georgians to come to the EU without visas since 2017. And while some Member States are concerned about the number of unjustified asylum applications from Georgians in the EU, the Commission sees no reason to ask for the visa liberalisation suspension mechanism to be activated.
The security situation was also discussed. Thanking the EU for its physical presence, through its mission, on the line of contact between Georgia, South Ossetia and Abkhazia, the President called for concerted and strong action by the international community, including the EU, to find a “necessary and more ambitious” peaceful solution to the conflict. "Georgia's ongoing peaceful efforts can only succeed with the determined support of our partners. Alone, they will not be able to succeed”, she warned.
Mrs Zurabishvili also insisted on the Black Sea, considering that it was necessary to restore this sea as an area of cooperation. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)