French Leader Supports Georgia’s NATO Bid – Saakashvili Claims

France is “extremely supportive” in Georgia’s drive to join NATO, President Saakashvili said on October 4 with visiting NATO Secretary General, Jaap de Hoop Scheffer.

The Georgian leader’s remarks were made in a response to a statement by French defense minister, Hervé Morin, who told Reuters on October 3 that his country would support Georgia’s NATO-membership bid only if it weren’t seen as a threat by Russia.

“I want to confirm and probably President Sarkozy will also confirm that the position of France in all the issues, including this one, is extremely supportive,” Saakashvili said.

He said that his judgments on the French position were based on those two meetings which he had with his French counterpart, Nicolas Sarkozy, in recent four months – once during Saakashvili’s official visit to Paris in June and then in Marseille on September 30 when two leaders attended World Cup rugby match between Georgia and France.

“[The support] was expressed without any uncertainty,” Saakashvili said.

Georgian Parliamentary Chairperson, Nino Burjanadze, denounced the remarks by the French defense minister, saying they constituted “the wrong message to Russia.”

Speaking with Georgian reporters on October 4, Burjanadze likened the remarks to telling the Russians that “you will succeed, if you continue to behave badly.”

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