President Zurabishvili: “I Stand by Your Side Today Because Today You Represent Free Georgia”
The Georgian President, who is currently on an official visit to the United States, addressed those protesting at the Parliament saying: “I stand by your side because today you represent free Georgia. Georgia that sees its future in Europe and will not give anyone the right to take away its future. No one has the right to take away your future.”
The President said the law, passed today by the Parliament in its first reading, “must be abolished in whichever form.”
She added that there was no point in sending the draft to the Council of Europe’s Venice Commission, and that “the Venice Commission knows very well what kind of law it is.”
Zurabishvili added: “I said from the very first day that I would not sign it. I am not interested in discussing it article by article. I am only interested in the future of Georgia, I am interested in the Constitution, which I am the guarantor of. And the Constitution says that all branches of government, all agencies, must do everything to bring Georgia into Europe.”
She then stressed that “all those who voted for this law are violating the Constitution and taking us away from Europe.”
The President appealed to the Georgian ambassadors: “I appeal to all ambassadors who represent Georgia in EU countries or the US. What are you defending? What do you represent if not this European future?”
She concluded by saying: “We all say that we don’t need this law; its essence is to take us away from Europe. We are united today and we will be united tomorrow and we will take this country to Europe and I promise you that, I promised myself that a long time ago.”
This post is also available in: ქართული (Georgian) Русский (Russian)
