The Daily Beat: 30 May
President Salome Zurabishvili arrived in Brussels, where she had already met with Charles Michel, the European Council’s President, and Ursula von der Leyen, the President of the European Commission. According to the president’s office, during her Brussels meetings, president Zurabishvili focused on the country’s challenged EU future and the implementation of the twelve EU conditions, reiterating the unwavering will of the Georgian people to join the European family. EU officials praised Zurabishvili’s role in advancing Georgia’s path toward Europe, expressing readiness to continue working with her. While in Brussels, President Zurabishvili is set to meet Roberta Metsola, the President of the European Parliament, and address the European Parliament.
Prime Minister Garibashvili was in Bratislava, participating in discussions of the Global Security Forum (GLOBSEC), where he spoke of the war in Ukraine, Georgia’s EU perspectives, international sanctions against Russia, and the foreign agent’s bill. The prime minister saying that NATO expansion was one of the reasons to cause Russia’s attack on Ukraine was met with a particular uproar from civil society and opposition at home and sparked irritated reactions in some international circles. Michael Roth, the Chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee in the German Bundestag, called for urgent clarifications on Georgia’s relationship status with the EU and NATO. The PM also lashed out at a Georgian think-tanker, formerly a Georgian diplomat, for asking a question he found “provocative.” PM Garibashvili still said it would be a “huge mistake” not to grant Georgia the EU candidate status at the end of the year.
Several thousand opposition and civic activists gathered in occupied Sokhumi to oppose bills giving Russians the right to purchase real estate and land and settle in Abkhazia. They accused the leadership of betraying the national interests and demanded their resignation. The demonstrators also oppose increasing electricity bills, and were seen holding posters – “Abkhazia is not for sale” and “Energy Resources belong to the People.” Local media reported heightened security, apparently including some military units and armored vehicles around the official buildings in Sokhumi.
Data of the Day
According to the data by the official statistical agency, Geostat shows, even though the absolute poverty rate has been falling considerably in the past decades, one in five children still lives under the line of absolute poverty.
