EU Envoy Meets Opposition Leaders

After meeting with Parliamentary Speaker, Davit Bakradze and State Minister for Euro-Atlantic Integration Issues, Giorgi Baramidze, EU’s Special Representative for South Caucasus, Peter Semneby, met with opposition leaders later on Friday evening.

Semneby, although having no formal role of mediator, has been engaged in series of talks with both the opposition and the authorities since the launch of the protest rallies in Georgia on April 9.

“As we have said before it is important for this country and it is also important for the European Union as a friend and partner of Georgia that this situation that we have here in the streets is transformed into political process; that’s definitely be the best for the country,” Peter Semneby, the EU’s special envoy, said after the meeting.

Irakli Alasania and Davit Usupashvili from Alliance for Georgia; Nino Burjanadze, leader of Democratic Movement-United Georgia; Salome Zourabichvili, the leader of Georgia’s Way and Kakha Kukava, co-leader of Conservative Party met with the EU diplomat.

“Ten days ago we have demanded a meeting with Saakashvili in order to convey our demand about his resignation and to explain him our arguments and why the Georgian people is demanding his resignation and we are waiting for his response for ten days already,” Zourabichvili said. “We are at the same time ready to listen his answers, his arguments or requests about how to move the process forward.”

Nino Burjanadze said that the opposition position remained unchanged and it had “one item on the agenda [of dialogue] – the President’s resignation; we have no other precondition.”

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