“For the past 30 years, by taking to the streets and participating in elections and polls, the Georgian people have been saying that we want Europe, Europe, and only Europe,” the country’s fifth president, Salome Zurabishvili, stated at the European Values forum in the Romanian city of Timișoara.
During her address, Zurabishvili focused on the democratic backsliding in Georgia, as well as the authorities’ repressive policies directed against civil society, independent media, and the opposition. She emphasized that the Georgian people’s European choice remains unwavering.
“Our choice comes at a price: students, journalists, and ordinary citizens are confronting violence, detentions, and daily repression. Our message is loud and clear: we will not surrender! Georgia belongs to the people!
Civil society is being crushed through repressive laws, independent media are being silenced through censorship, and opposition parties face threats of being banned. This is not governance; this is the usurpation of power,” Zurabishvili stated.
According to her, the authorities halted Georgia’s European integration in defiance of the country’s Constitution and the will of the Georgian people.
The fifth president also added that Russia is waging an ongoing hybrid campaign against Georgia, “and we serve as an experimental testing ground for it.”
“The same struggle is being waged against European states and institutions. We see cyberattacks, sabotage, disinformation, election interference, economic pressure, and the exploitation of corruption and oligarchs. The objective is no longer merely territorial: the target is our trust in elections, in institutions, and in one another.”
According to Zurabishvili, Georgians are being subjected to an inverted worldview: as though Europe is encroaching on their sovereignty, the West bears responsibility for the war, and only Russia seeks peace. “All of this is designed to make us overlook the true source of the threat, abandon self-defense, and resign ourselves to what is happening.”
The fifth president urged that democracy, sovereignty, and security not be separated from one another. Europe becomes safer, she noted, when its neighbors are free to choose their own future.
“The goal of Russian narratives is to make us blind to the true source of the threat, push us to abandon self-defense, and force us to accept what is happening. Our response must be to defend our democratic choice: we must support and safeguard those detained for defending fundamental freedoms, demand accountability across the board, and remain faithful to the people.
We must stand united in solidarity and take coordinated action against disinformation and cyberattacks before the situation deteriorates further,” Salome Zurabishvili stated.