European Council President Praises EU-Georgia Relations
“EU-Georgia relations are strong and we enjoy an excellent partnership,” the President of the European Council, Donald Tusk, stated at a joint press-conference with Georgian President, Giorgi Margvelashvili, who is in Brussels on an official visit.
Tusk emphasized that the EU remains fully committed to the conflict resolution effort and supports the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Georgia within its internationally recognized borders.
“We are concerned about the creeping annexation of the two breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. The recent tragic death of Georgian citizen Archil Tatunashvili and the detention of two others in South Ossetia was a sad reminder of the cost paid in conflict,” he added.
The European Council President also noted that Georgia is the frontrunner in the Eastern Partnership, and that the EU very much appreciated Georgia’s constructive and active support in making last year’s Summit a success.
“In this context, we also discussed the future of EU-Georgia relations, including the Georgian Government’s pragmatic proposals for advancing integration and cooperation with the European Union. We will work to make these ideas more concrete in the coming month,” he added.
Tusk also mentioned the Georgia-EU visa-free regime, adding he was assured by Margvelashvili that Georgia will do its best to prevent violations of visa-free rules and increased number of asylum-seekers from Georgia.
“The EU will continue to support Georgia’s reforms. With regard to the visa free regime, I welcome the commitment of the Georgian authorities to continue working with EU member states to make sure that it functions properly,” he stated.
Georgian President spoke about Georgia’s commitments and its path towards the EU.
“Within this path, Europe has become much closer and much more engaged in Georgia and Georgia is much closer to Europe. Europe has become the number one trading partner for Georgia and we have quite an intensive number of formats of cooperation and partnership that I believe will be developing and broadening in the future,” he said.
Margvelashvili noted that Georgian Government has taken an extremely active and responsible position on every issue that has been brought forward by its foreign partners, and noted that Georgia is ready to work to have much more effective, functional and long-standing cooperation with the EU.
Margvelashvili’s visit in Brussels started on March 8 and will end on March 10.
By Thea Morrison