President Salome Zurabishvili Visits Czech Republic
The President of Georgia, Salome Zurabishvili, is on an official visit to the Czech Republic. The aim of her visit is to promote European support for granting Georgia the EU candidate status, a few days before the official decision is to be taken on by the European Council.
Meeting with the Czech President
On December 11, President Zurabishvili met with her Czech counterpart, Petr Pavel. The President’s administration said that as part of the first official visit of a President of Georgia to the Czech Republic the sides met in a one-on-one as well as extended formats. Among the issues discussed were EU enlargement, Georgia’s EU integration process and the important decision Georgia expects from the EU Council this week.
During the meeting, President Pavel emphasized the Czech support for Georgia’s candidate status. He said: ” “We support Georgia’s path to the EU because principles such as respect for rules, which are the basis of European integration, are important to us. We have to support all the European countries that are left out of this system and give them hope.”
President Zurabishvili took to Twitter/X saying: “Grateful to President Petr Pavel for Czechia’s full and steadfast support as we await a crucial decision this week on Georgia’s candidacy status. This historic first official visit of the President of Georgia to the Czech Republic signifies the unwavering bond between our nations.”
Within the framework of the official visit, today the President Zurabishili also held a meeting with the President of the Chamber of Deputies, Markéta Pekarová.
Referring to Russia’s occupation of the Georgian regions, Markéta Pekarová said that the Western world’s response in 2008 was not strong enough, and neither was the response to Russia’s subsequent illegal annexation of Crimea.
“We are already reaping the fruits of this lack of response in the form of an almost two-year conflict in large parts of Ukraine,” Markéta Pekarová noted, referring to the open invasion launched by Moscow last February.
As for EU membership, she said there were many areas where Georgia needed to improve its compliance. She noted that the Czech parliament had offered help with legislative changes, citing the Czech experience on the road to European membership.
President Zurabishvili’s decision to continue visits to European capitals after the impeachment proceedings against her has already been negatively evaluated by representatives of the ruling Georgian Dream party. The Speaker of the Parliament, Shalva Papuashvili, called the visit “a gross and open violation not only of the Constitution, but also of the decision of the Constitutional Court” and declared that the President’s decision is an act of “hostility against the Georgian state”.
Note: this news was updated on 12/12/2023 to include details of the meeting with Markéta Pekarová.
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