Europe’s recommendation to grant Georgia candidate status for EU membership is “a very major step” that is goading the country’s political leaders to coalesce around a “new consensus” in favour of a European future, Georgian President Salomé Zourabichvili told FRANCE 24.
“Georgian political leaders have started again to talk a very pro-European language, which for some time they had subdued in some ways,” said the French-born Zourabichvili, who was elected to Georgia’s largely ceremonial presidency in 2018 with the backing of the now-ruling Georgian Dream party. Last month, Georgian Dream led an unsuccessful effort in Georgia’s parliament to oust Zourabichvili in the country’s first-ever impeachment vote. The party’s leader accused her of violating the constitution by visiting Europe to lobby support for EU membership without first seeking the government’s consent.
