CQ RollCall: “Political Reform Is Crucial as Ukraine, Georgia Face Russian Offensive”

The online version of top American political newspaper CQ Roll Call published an article penned by United States (US) Congressmen Peter Roskam and David E Price that describes the importance of political reform in Georgia and Ukraine.

The article beings with the authors noting recent news reports "sounded the alarm” that if the US and Europe faltered in their support for Ukraine and Georgia, Russia was "poised to fill the gap – not just with military aggression in Eastern Ukraine, but with strong economic and political offensives”. The authors claimed some political elements in both countries were open to Russia’s efforts but the US had a different perspective.

We led a congressional delegation to Ukraine and Georgia recently … [and] we have never seen a stronger desire in either country to become part of Europe, nor a stronger realization that national success depends on continued domestic reform. We return convinced that the U.S. and our European allies must find credible, calibrated ways of showing support, even as larger questions of European Union and, especially, NATO accession are deferred.”

Near the end of the article the Congressmen praised the efforts of the Parliament of Georgia.

"As our outgoing ambassador, Richard Norland, notes, [the Georgian Parliament] has benefited greatly from having "two Davids” at the helm: former Speaker David Bakradze, who now leads the opposition, and David Usupashvili of the small Republican Party, chosen as speaker by the post-2012 governing coalition. Despite these leaders’ moderating styles, partisan divisions have sometimes been disabling. But the desire to strengthen economic and political ties with the West remains a powerful unifying force.”

Read the full article here: www.rollcall.com