In an exclusive interview, Georgian Foreign Minister David Zakariani discussed the three-nation joint summit in Batumi this week, relations with Ukraine, internal political processes and the country’s EU ambitions.
David Zalkaliani is a Georgian professional diplomat who has served as the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Georgia since June 21, 2018. He talked with Georgi Gotev, EURACTIV’s senior editor.
Was it easy to bring the president to this trio summit in Batumi?For example, in order to bring Mr. Zelensky, a presidential pardon and Three Ukrainian nationals accused of illegally crossing the Georgian border were released from Georgian prison Just before he arrived.
There are many speculations on this issue, but I can assure you that it has nothing to do with this meeting because the idea for this meeting was put forward by the President of Georgia [Salome Zourabishvili]Some time ago, during Charles Michel’s last visit to Georgia, he was mediating the internal process of a political party different from Georgia. This is the idea of the President of Georgia in inviting relevant partners Ukraine and Moldova to participate in the Batumi International Conference.
Later I met my colleagues in Kiev, the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine and Moldova, and when we signed the Memorandum of Understanding on the establishment of the Tri-Nation Alliance, we agreed to this. So, I can assure you that the speculation we heard from the former president of Georgia has nothing to do with it. [Mikheil Saakashvili]He inexplicably gave the statement that President Zelensky did not want to come to Georgia. This is absolutely false information and has nothing to do with reality. We are strategic partners, we decide all issues in the spirit of strategic cooperation, so there are no obstacles or obstacles.
But Mr. Saakashvili is a stimulus factor in Georgia-Ukraine relations. Did the Ukrainian side who hosted him understand your concerns?
Yes, we had very frank and open discussions with our Ukrainian colleagues. As early as last year during the Georgian parliamentary elections, there was a problem of Ukrainian citizen Saakashvili’s interference in the Georgian election process. So we made it clear to our partners: this is unacceptable. This violated George’s internal procedures and legislation. But since then, the situation has returned to the spirit of our strategic partnership.
Back to the question of the Batumi Conference and the Joint Trio, what would you like to emphasize?
I want to emphasize the importance of the principle of distinction. We are three countries with an alliance agreement, DCFTA [Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Agreements], Visa liberalization.Obviously, compared with other Eastern Partnership countries [Armenia, Azerbaijan and Belarus] We have made significant progress in membership. This is why one of our main goals is to reflect the progress made by the three of us towards the goal of full integration into the European Union and determine what the post-2020 agenda of the Eastern Partnership is, because it is clear that the geopolitical changes in the region In the context, we need a creative approach, how to revitalize the Eastern partnership, and how to adapt it to the current reality.
Charles Michel mentioned the issue of good governance, and every associated country has such a problem. Especially in Georgia, political reconciliation has not yet been achieved. How do you think the situation will develop?
First of all, let me express my deepest gratitude personally and my government to President Michel for his personal participation. This also shows the importance of his agenda on the situation in Georgia in the agenda of our European partners. This is why the mediation procedure finalized by the agreement reached on April 19 is so important that it is now time to fully implement it in order to move forward and resolve the all-person crisis in Georgia after the 2017 parliamentary elections.
What is important now is that all parties that signed the agreement implement it, but unfortunately the largest opposition party [Saaksashvili’s UNM], Still refused to sign this agreement, we do not have the signature of the largest opposition party for this important agreement. Therefore, on our side, the government is fully implementing the agreement, because you remember that one of the important aspects of the agreement is that all political parties enter the parliament and continue the process of establishing a fully functional parliamentary republic in Georgia. Unfortunately, UMM, the largest political party, still refuses to sign this agreement. But other areas of the agreement, such as the reform of the electoral system, and the electoral courts, were completed very successfully.
Charles Michel talked about judicial issues. He said that the recent rapid confirmation by the Supreme Court judge did not fully reflect the results of consultations with international and domestic stakeholders., Calling it a “missed opportunity”“.
Of course, there are also some problems in this reform process, because the two sides have different interpretations and different understandings. From our perspective, we believe that the agreement has been fully implemented, even in the context of judicial reform, we believe that we have implemented the agreement, taking into account the recommendations of the Venice Commission, the OSCE and ODIHR.
The other party has a different interpretation of this specific part of the implementation of this agreement, but we believe that there is still room for further dialogue in order to reach a final agreement on the essence of this important content. On the one hand, this is the continuation of the judicial reform process, because we understand that this is an important part of our democratic reform process. In order to strengthen our democratic institutions, the implementation of this agreement is very important because it is also an important part of our European integration agenda .
Like Charles Michel did in Georgia, it is very unusual for the chairman of the board to mediate. How would you rate this experience?
Very positive. Once again, we are deeply grateful for his personal dedication and participation. It once again shows how important the situation in Georgia is to our European partners, and how important it is that our path to the EU is irreversible.
[Edited by Zoran Radosavljevic]
