President Proposes Establishment of Post of State Minister for EU Integration and Office

Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili presented her annual report to the Parliament today.

In her address, Zourabichvili called on the government and the opposition parties to spare no effort to reach a common stance regarding the EU membership and Ukraine crises. Welcoming the country’s EU membership request signed by Georgian PM Irakli Garibashvili and the resolution being drafted in Parliament, she called on MPs to adopt it unanimously.

"During this difficult period, every effort should be made to form a common position: on the one hand, with regard to the EU membership, and on the other hand, with regard to Ukraine, so that no issue is used for narrow, political interests. I welcome the Prime Minister's statement on membership, I welcome the resolution that is being worked out in Parliament, and I call on everyone to adopt this resolution unanimously. I have also read several statements made by non-governmental organizations, other public petitions or initiatives, which I also welcome. I suggest that all these initiatives be united and that we all sign a single document that will support our application and will be a sign of our full unity on this issue, and will be sent to the EU in one package on behalf of Georgia. I propose to create the post of the State Minister for EU Integration and Office, which can be selected from the opposition. It will coordinate actions aimed at urgently meeting the membership requirements, as is the case with other candidate countries.

I call on the Government to create an expanded, or another format of the Security Council with the participation of the opposition parties, where all sensitive issues will be discussed. Once again, I would like to call on you to declare a moratorium on the use of hate speech during the most difficult period," said the President.