Wall Street Journal: “Georgia Will Stay the Course on Europe, Prime Minister Vows”

Russia cannot prevent Georgia from uniting with the European Union as it does not have political and economic leverage over Georgia. This was the recurring theme of interview between journalist Naftali Bendavid and Georgia’s Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili, published on the Wall Street Journal’s website on February 4.

Bendavid stated Ukraine and Armenia gave similar assurances before Russian pressured them to reverse their intended course. Bendavid also stressed that some in the EU feared Georgia might face the same pressure following the Sochi Winter Olympics on February 6-23, when Russia would have less need to burnish its international image.

Decisions by Georgia and Moldova to move closer to the EU would allow the bloc to claim some successes in its outreach to former Soviet-bloc countries.|/

Read the full article on: www.europe.wsj.com