Georgian Foreign Minister Maka Bochorishvili has commented on her meeting with EU Ambassador Paweł Herczyński regarding his statements in Brussels concerning Georgia.
According to her, despite the diplomat’s explanations, “facts and actions remain facts and actions.” She added that “the picture we are seeing is unacceptable.”
Bochorishvili emphasized that it is the Georgian government that best sees and understands the crossroads at which Georgia stands, and how much it needs neither a dark past nor such threats.
“No one better than us—neither [better than] the Georgians, nor the government elected by the Georgian people—will understand the crossroads this country is at. The will of the Georgian people is expressed in the choice of the Georgian government. The government represents the will of the people who are being so ‘cared for.’ Accordingly, it is the government that best senses the turning point Georgia is facing, how important risk prevention is for the country’s security, and how much we need stability. We do not need the encouragement of societal polarization and a radical agenda. Likewise, we need neither a dark past nor such threats,” the minister stated.
Responding to a question about what exactly in Paweł Herczyński’s statement was of a threatening nature, Bochorishvili stressed that everything that fuels polarization in society is unacceptable.
“The statements, actions, and steps being taken by Brussels, and the attitude we observe toward the Georgian government, are unacceptable and aimed at polarizing society. Everything that incites polarization in our society is unacceptable, just as the encouragement of a radical agenda is unacceptable,” Bochorishvili noted.
When asked if she had heard explanations from Herczyński, the Foreign Minister replied that she expects the kind of treatment from Brussels that Georgia deserves.
“Whatever explanation we hear, facts and actions remain facts and actions. The picture we see is unacceptable. Georgia is a partner in good faith. It has done nothing toward the EU that could damage any of the European Union’s interests.
Accordingly, we also expect from the EU that the attitude coming from Brussels will be what Georgia deserves—within the framework of a good-faith partnership.
We do not see this now, and that is precisely what explains the steps we are witnessing. If we want to bring relations back to normal, at the very least, mutual respect is necessary, and at the very least, these relations must be based on trust, which such statements undermine,” Maka Bochorishvili concluded.
