IRI survey: 74% support Georgia’s EU membership, 60% back joining NATO
The survey shows 74 percent in full support of EU membership, 14 percent expressed partial support, 6 percent “completely oppose” the prospect, and 4 percent said they partially oppose it. Photo: gyla.ge
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Georgia’s European Union membership enjoys a 74 percent support in the country, with 60 percent backing the country joining NATO, shows a new survey by the International Republican Institute, published on Wednesday.
The survey shows 74 percent in full support of EU membership, 14 percent expressed partial support, 6 percent “completely oppose” the prospect, and 4 percent said they partially oppose it.
Georgia’s NATO membership has full support of 60 percent of respondents and partial support from 15 percent. The question also saw 12 percent say they do not support the prospect of the country joining the alliance at all, while 8 percent said they partially oppose it.
For the survey, 1,486 permanent residents aged 18 and above were asked to respond to the questions, with the poll conducted between March 4-24.
The data of the survey was gathered through face-to-face interviews in the homes of respondents, the IRI said, noting the response rate amounted to 64 percent and the margin of error was 2.5 percent.
The European Union has been named as the most important economic partner of Georgia by 54 percent of citizens of the country in a new nationwide survey conducted by the International Republican Institute.
The United States House of Representatives has approved the Georgia Support Act, establishing a “strategic partnership” between the two countries “at the legislative level”, the Georgian foreign office said on Thursday.
NATO values Georgia very much as its partner, Javier Colomina, the NATO Secretary General’s Special Representative for the Caucasus and Central Asia, said on Wednesday following his meetings with the Georgian Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili and members of the Parliament’s Defence and Security Committee.
The approval of the Georgia Support Act by the United States House of Representatives “reaffirms and increases the strength” of the strategic partnership between the two countries, Irakli Garibashvili, the Prime Minister of Georgia, said on Thursday.
Irakli Kobakhidze, the head of the ruling Georgian Dream party, on Thursday said the question of the Government using military means to reclaim the Russian-occupied regions of Abkhazia and Tskhinvali (South Ossetia) was “absolutely ruled out”.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg on Thursday said the “brutal invasion” of Ukraine by Russia had demonstrated the need for NATO to provide support to countries including Moldova and Georgia.
Georgia-NATO relations and the importance of institutional and democratic reforms in the country were discussed on Tuesday in a meeting between the Georgian president Salome Zourabichvili and Javier Colomina, the NATO secretary general’s special representative for the Caucasus and Central Asia.
The progress achieved by Georgia on its Euro-Atlantic integration path and the main directions of the country’s relations with NATO were discussed on Tuesday in a meeting between the Georgian prime minister Irakli Garibashvili and Javier Colomina, the NATO secretary general’s special representative for the Caucasus and Central Asia.