President Zurabishvili today cancelled her much-anticipated visit to Strasbourg where she was expected to address the European Parliament. According to the statement issued by the Administration of the President regarding the cancellation of the visit: “Due to the artificially prolonged approval process by the Georgian government, the President of Georgia has decided to postpone an important visit to the city of Strasbourg, as she believes that this should be a step towards depolarization and not the other way round”.
The statement further acknowledges the importance of the visit and of address to the European Parliament in the context of the receipt of EU candidate status and reads that “the appropriate time of the speech will be determined together with the President of the European Parliament”.
The Administration of the Government immediately refuted the above statement, stating that the allegation of artificially delaying the approval was “false” and that the Government’s official approval was given promptly, on 13 April, the next day after receiving the letter from the President’s Office.
