European Parliament members meet with Georgian government and president
By Messenger staff
Monday, December 24
Head of the European Foreign Relations Committee, Elmar Brok and the speaker on Georgian issues at European Parliament Krzysztof Licek, met with Georgian Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili at the government chancellery on December 21. Ivanishvili said the sides discussed various issues including the process of cohabitation. “I assured our friends that there will not be selective justice and political persecution in Georgia,” Ivanishvili said. The PM added that everything in Georgia will be done in a transparent way in order to restore justice.
Brok congratulated PM on his election success. He said the European Parliament will support “independent Georgia’s way on its European route.” He said the European Parliament and his Committee have to ratify the Associated and Free Trade agreement with Georgia. He said a successful conclusion cannot be achieved without the “acceptance of European values and the rule of law.”
“We would like to make it clear that selective justice and prosecution should not be the way of finding solutions to such questions and therefore we hope we can on this basis cooperate in the future,” Brok said, stressing that he has invited PM Ivanishvili to come to the European Parliament for the further discussions about Georgia as a free state.
Meeting with the Georgian Foreign Minister, Maia Panjikidze, European officials focused on recent developments in the country and Georgia’s prospects with regard to the EU.
President Mikheil Saakashvili also hosted European guests at the presidential palace. The elections, the current political processes and Georgia-EU integration were among the main issues the sides discussed on Friday.
“We are here from the European Parliament because we want to show that we have a long standing interest of further political developments of EU-Georgian developments,” Elmar Brok said, adding he believes the policy which was done in the last years will find continuation.
