Exclusive: Georgia pins hopes on Europe

By Leo Cendrowicz, Batumi, Georgia

Georgia’s European ambitions have not been swayed by the ongoing crisis in Ukraine, Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili (pictured) has said, in a defiant message to Moscow about the country’s long-term direction.

Speaking just two weeks after Georgia – along with Ukraine and Moldova – signed association agreements with the European Union, Garibashvili delivered an emphatic message about the country’s long-term future. “The process of Europeanization will become irreversible,” he said.

Garibashvili was speaking at a high-level conference in the Georgian Black Sea resort of Batumi on 11 July, gathering ministers and officials from across Europe. Much of the debate was dominated by questions about the threat from Russia in the wake of the annexation of Crimea and the ongoing fighting in eastern Ukraine. However, the prime minister insisted that the crisis had not change Georgia’s own perspective.

"Georgia, Ukraine and Moldova, as the EU Eastern Partnership member states, have already made their historic choice, and they chose the path of integration into Europe," Garibashvili said. "Clearly recognizing the choice of these countries, the EU will enhance its ability to establish peace and stability in the region, and economic development.”

Garibashvili said the EU’s recent introduction of the visa-free entry for Georgian citizens would help the country's integration with Europe, suggesting that it would even influence citizens in the Russian-occupied breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. “Our passports will be more attractive for our Abkhasian and Ossetian brothers,” Garibashvili said.

He added that the EU was already influencing the government’s current reforms on human rights strategy and anti-discrimination, as well as immigration, the fight against corruption and organized crime, human trafficking, money-laundering, and border management.

But Garibashvili also appealed for EU financial aid in consolidating the reforms, saying they were vital for securing peace in the region. "We hope that in addition to ensuring peace and stability in the region, the EU will support us in carrying out reforms," he said, pointing to urgent needs in infrastructure development and industrial investment, in particular in the transport, energy and farming sectors.

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