Georgian President: EU “cannot afford to lose Georgia”, “have Georgian citizens disappointed again” in membership bid decision

Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili on Wednesday said the European Union “cannot afford to lose Georgia” and to “have Georgian citizens disappointed again” in the upcoming decision on whether to grant the country the bloc’s membership candidate status.

In an interview with CNN’s chief international anchor Christiane Amanpour, Zourabichvili noted Georgia needed to receive the status later this year.

I think we have great chances to get into the European Union, and we know that the roads to the EU and NATO are very parallel, and Georgia has been very active in its relations with NATO. [...] Our connection to NATO is very close. But today probably the EU path seems closer because Ukraine has in fact accelerated the path towards European integration”, Zourabichvili said.

“The EU is a very turning point. Georgia needs to get the candidate status. We have been given the European perspective, which for Georgia is very important. In this soft war that we have with Russia, [...] EU cannot afford to lose Georgia, to have Georgian citizens disappointed again”, she continued.

The Georgian official also admitted that she felt “total surprise” when she became aware of the attempted mutiny in the ranks of the Russian troops in Ukraine by the Wagner Group private mercenaries last weekend.  

One could not not be concerned, especially when a regime is entering an end period and clearly, Putin is not mastering everything today - and certainly not mastering the war in Ukraine”, Zourabichvili noted.

The Georgian President said she did not see an “imminent” military threat to her country, remarking that Putin “lacks the resources” to open another front along the Georgian border.